IBFT 2.0 consensus. A 20-supernode quorum. Absolute finality.
ZeroChain runs Istanbul Byzantine Fault Tolerance 2.0 across a rotating quorum of 20 supernodes, each operating 20 dedicated validator instances in Tier III+ data centres with QoS fibre backbones. 400 high-performance nodes, deterministic low-latency paths, and BLS signature aggregation compress the three-phase commit cycle to well within a single second.
The result: institutional throughput without sacrificing absolute, mathematically irreversible finality. An institution can act on a ZeroChain transaction within one second with cryptographic certainty, no probabilistic confirmations, no waiting for re-org windows.
Where competing chains rely on probabilistic finality, treating settlement as likely rather than certain, IBFT 2.0 makes finality mathematically irreversible at the moment of commit.
Consensus
IBFT 2.0
Byzantine-fault-tolerant consensus with absolute, single-slot finality. Three-phase commit (pre-prepare → prepare → commit) requires 2/3 supermajority before a block is appended.
Quorum
20-supernode DPoS
Rotating quorum of 20 supernodes, each operating 20 dedicated validator instances. Each supernode is independently owned by ZHC token holders, no single entity, including the Foundation, controls a majority.
Throughput
150,000+ TPS
Validated in live production through the ZeroHunger DCO across 21 countries at 150,000+ TPS, more than double Visa's peak capacity. Theoretical ceiling: 1,000,000 TPS.
State
Bonsai Tries
Flat storage layout replacing the legacy Forest of Tries. Validators access account data directly, eliminating tree-climbing delays as the database grows to billions of users.
Privacy
Tessera enclaves
Consensys Tessera Private Transaction Manager enables selective disclosure, sensitive PII held in encrypted enclaves accessible only to authorised regulators, with cryptographic proof on the public ledger.
Energy
< 0.0001 kWh / tx
Less energy per transaction than a single Google search. ~0.003% of post-merge Ethereum, ~1/100,000,000th of Bitcoin. PoS, no mining.
Throughput
150,000+ TPS
Live production
Finality
Sub-second
Absolute, not probabilistic
Execution latency
< 100 ms
QUIC + parallelised
Energy / tx
< 0.0001 kWh
< one Google search
Three-layer compliance, enforced at the protocol.
KYC/AML on ZeroChain is not a single-point control or a middleware bolt-on. It is a multi-layer enforcement model spanning three distinct protocol layers, natively compliant with the GENIUS Act, MiCA, and ISO 20022 from inception, not retrofitted.
Combined with periodic Bitcoin cross-chain state anchoring, the result is a "Blockchain of Blockchains" security model: to alter a finalised transaction, an adversary would need to compromise the ZeroChain quorum and rewrite the history of the host anchoring chain.
Smart Contract
ZRC-777 token standard. Identity verification enforced at the point of token execution, every transfer validated against on-chain identity state before settlement.
Privacy
Tessera selective disclosure. Encrypted enclaves accessible only to authorised regulators; cryptographic proof on the public ledger.
Data / State
Bonsai Trie Logs create an immutable, compact record of every state change. Periodic Bitcoin anchoring provides an audit trail independent of the validator set.
The three-phase commit. The 3f+1 rule. Absolute finality.
01
Pre-prepare
The designated Proposer, rotated deterministically by round-robin, broadcasts a new block proposal to the validator pool.
02
Prepare
Validators verify the block header and transactions, then broadcast a 'prepare' message to all other nodes in the quorum.
03
Commit
On receiving 2f+1 prepare messages, validators broadcast 'commit'. The block is appended only when > 2/3 of validators have cryptographically signed, global state stays synchronised.
Security is anchored in the 33% Byzantine tolerance threshold (n ≥ 3f+1). If a Proposer equivocates or proposes invalid state, validators refuse to sign, triggering an immediate Round Change and leader rotation. Failed nodes are auto-Jailed; the quorum dynamically adjusts to preserve liveness.
Execution layer
Sub-100ms execution. Sub-second finality.
ZeroChain distinguishes between two metrics most chains conflate. Execution latency , the time for a node to process and propagate, is under 100ms via QUIC transport and parallelised execution. Settlement finality, the point of mathematical irreversibility, is sub-second under the 20-supernode DPoS configuration.
Smart contract layer
Hyper-optimised pure-payment framework.
ZeroChain eliminates smart-contract bloat. High-performance Intrinsics handle payment, identity, and compliance logic at native speed, prioritising horizontal scalability and computational efficiency over general-purpose VM overhead. Off-chain AI orchestration handles matching and fraud detection without consuming block space.
Cryptography
Ed25519. BLS aggregation. Asset Protection Mode.
Every transaction is signed with Ed25519. BLS signature aggregation compresses validator signalling overhead that has historically capped competing chains. Asset Protection Mode employs address diversification to defeat malicious profiling while preserving a mathematically verifiable audit trail.
State layer
Bonsai Tries + Trie Log archival.
Where legacy chains use a Forest of Tries, saving every historical node by hash, ZeroChain uses a flat Bonsai layout. Validators access account data directly, with compact Trie Logs providing the audit trail. State pruning keeps the active set lean; Trie Log archival preserves complete history for compliance retrieval.
Use the chain that institutions
have been waiting for.
21 countries. Millions of daily micro-transactions. Live production stress test for every claim on this page.