In my previous post, I looked at Horizen from a technical perspective and focused on its move toward an EVM-compatible Layer 3.
This time, I want to look at the other side of the network: what ZEN is actually used for and how it fits into the current Horizen ecosystem.
There is one detail worth clearing up first.
ZEN and Horizen are not the same thing.
Horizen is the network and infrastructure. ZEN is its ecosystem token.
That distinction becomes more important after the project's move to Base.
ZEN is no longer a traditional mining coin
Older Horizen guides often talk about mining ZEN with GPUs and the Equihash Proof-of-Work algorithm.
That information is now outdated.
In July 2025, ZEN was migrated from the legacy Horizen mainchain and EON to Base as an ERC-20 token. The old chains were subsequently discontinued.
The maximum supply remains capped at 21 million ZEN, but the way the token is used has changed along with the network.
So if you find an old tutorial explaining how to mine ZEN, it's worth checking the publication date before following it.
What is ZEN used for?
ZEN has several roles within the current ecosystem.
It serves as the main ecosystem and governance token and can be used in applications built around Horizen.
More recently, staking has also become part of the network's current model. ZEN staking on Horizen Mainnet opened in July 2026. Users can move ZEN to Horizen and stake it there, while the network uses ETH rather than ZEN for transaction fees.
That last part is easy to miss.
You don't need ZEN to pay gas on Horizen. You need ETH.
This is similar to what users may already know from other EVM networks.
ZEN has its own role in the ecosystem, while ETH handles transaction fees.
Holding ZEN is a little different now
Because ZEN exists within an EVM environment, it can be held using wallets that support Base and Ethereum-compatible assets.
But there is an important distinction between holding ZEN on Base and using it on Horizen.
ZEN can be bridged between Base and Horizen, including through Stargate and LayerZero's Omnichain Fungible Token infrastructure.
So before sending ZEN, the network matters.
It's not enough to check that the wallet address looks correct. You also need to make sure the destination network and token version match what you're trying to do.
This is one of those small details that can prevent a very expensive mistake.
What about the ecosystem?
The interesting part of Horizen isn't just the ZEN token.
The network is being positioned around applications that need a combination of EVM compatibility, privacy and compliance-oriented functionality.
That gives ZEN a role inside a broader ecosystem rather than making the token the whole story.
For developers, this is probably the more useful way to look at it.
Instead of asking only:
“Why would someone hold ZEN?”
it's worth asking:
“What applications actually need the Horizen ecosystem?”
If privacy-focused DeFi, payments, identity or other onchain applications gain traction, the utility of the surrounding infrastructure becomes much more relevant.
Storage is mostly about the network, not just the wallet
When people talk about storing a crypto asset, they often focus on the wallet itself.
With ZEN, the network is just as important.
ZEN on Base is an ERC-20 token. When using ZEN on Horizen, the token can be bridged to the Horizen environment.
That means a wallet can show a ZEN balance while the user still needs to understand which network that balance belongs to.
The same wallet address format can make this less obvious than it should be.
For anyone moving ZEN between networks, checking the network, token contract and receiving address before confirming a transaction is a basic but important step.
So, is ZEN still a privacy coin?
Not in the way older descriptions might suggest.
ZEN itself is now an ERC-20 token on Base and does not provide private transactions simply because someone holds or transfers it.
Privacy is instead part of Horizen's broader application and infrastructure direction.
That's an important distinction because searching for information about ZEN can still bring up older explanations based on the project's previous architecture.
The bigger picture
What I find interesting about ZEN is how much the token's role has changed without changing its basic identity.
It started as the native asset of a Proof-of-Work blockchain.
Today, it exists as an ERC-20 token connected to an EVM-compatible Layer 3 ecosystem built on Base.
The practical questions are therefore different now:
Where is the token held?
Which network is it on?
What does it do inside the ecosystem?
And which applications actually create demand for the infrastructure around it?
Those questions are probably more useful than simply looking at ZEN as another crypto asset.
For anyone who wants the broader background on the token, its history, current network setup and practical considerations, I also put together a more detailed Horizen (ZEN) review.
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