ZEN Horizen Rank #317 $4.10 ▼ 1.65%

Horizen (ZEN) is a privacy-focused blockchain platform that originated in 2017 as a fair-launched, non-ICO project. It is currently evolving into Horizen 2.0, a next-generation Layer 3 appchain deployed on Base, the Ethereum Layer 2 network developed by Coinbase. By operating as an Ethereum-aligned L3, Horizen inherits Base's rollup security and Ethereum's settlement guarantees, while implementing its own application-level security model that moves away from earlier hybrid Proof-of-Work and Proof-of-Work/Proof-of-Stake designs. The platform is built around making privacy technology practical and accessible for broader web applications. Its architecture combines a modular stack of privacy-enhancing technologies, including zero-knowledge proofs, trusted execution environments, attribute-based encryption, multi-party computation, and fully homomorphic encryption. This toolkit is designed to support decentralized proof generation and flexible confidentiality guarantees without sacrificing performance or composability with existing infrastructure. Positioned as the first privacy appchain on Base, Horizen functions as a foundational privacy layer for decentralized applications within the Base ecosystem, serving developers building products that require data confidentiality and verifiable computation.