The integration will allow Zeus to seamlessly connect with major blockchain networks and support transfers of the zBTC asset, while also adopting Chainlink Proof of Reserve to verify 1:1 asset collateralization.
Zeus Network, a leading Bitcoin layer on Solana, today announced a strategic integration with Chainlink, the standard for onchain finance, verifiable data, and cross-chain interoperability, to adopt the Chainlink Cross-Chain Interoperability Protocol (CCIP) across Base, Ethereum, Solana, and Sonic mainnets.
This integration enables users on Zeus to transfer zBTC, a fully permissionless Bitcoin asset on the Solana network across leading blockchain networks. Zeus has also adopted Chainlink Proof of Reserve, which cryptographically verifies that zBTC is collateralized 1:1 with BTC, providing both security and transparency enhancements for cross-chain applications.
“Wrapped BTC tokens are flawed because they aren’t decentralized — many of them still require KYC, have third-party entities involved in the trading, and ultimately take control away from the user. The Chainlink standard enables this to solve these issues and provide an enhanced experience for our users,” said Justin Wang, Founder and CEO of Zeus Network. “zBTC offers users a truly decentralized Bitcoin asset compatible with the Solana ecosystem, now able to be easily transferred across the most widely used chains thanks to our integration of Chainlink CCIP. We are excited to unlock the vast liquidity potential for DeFi on Solana by leveraging Chainlink, powered entirely by Bitcoin.”
zBTC is a critical asset for the Solana ecosystem, backed one to one by native Bitcoin to ensure value is consistent between the assets. Through APOLLO, Zeus Network’s flagship dApp, users can lock BTC and mint zBTC, allowing the asset to work directly within the Solana DeFi landscape. Notably, zBTC is completely decentralized with no centralized custodians or third-party requirements, with all transactions and reserves transparently verifiable through ZeusScan and supported by Chainlink Proof of Reserve, the protocol’s official interaction explorer.
Zeus will tap into Chainlink’s vast cross-chain ecosystem, leveraging its leading connectivity standards and compatibility across the blockchain industry. By connecting Zeus Network with CCIP and the broader Chainlink ecosystem, it will allow Zeus to push towards its primary goal of bringing 1% of Bitcoin onto Solana and increase ecosystem adoption.
“Zeus Network’s integration of Chainlink CCIP and Proof of Reserve demonstrates a strong commitment to enabling secure, decentralized cross-chain BTCFi. By leveraging the Chainlink standard, Zeus is unlocking new levels of transparency and interoperability for Bitcoin within the Solana ecosystem, helping to accelerate the adoption of cross-chain DeFi applications.” — Luke Lim, Head of CCIP GTM, Chainlink Labs.
Alongside the CCIP integration, Chainlink will also provide Zeus and APOLLO with access to Proof of Reserve, a decentralized oracle service that provides real-time data on reserves for tokenized assets. Proof of Reserve will provide programmatic utility by keeping reserve data on chain, while also maintaining the decentralized nature of the zBTC asset.
Secure Interoperability Via Chainlink CCIP
In order to help secure cross-chain transfers of zBTC, we needed access to a highly secure and reliable interoperability solution. After reviewing various solutions, we integrated Chainlink CCIP because it provides a multitude of important benefits and features, such as:
- Defense-in-depth security — CCIP’s consensus layer is powered by the same Chainlink Decentralized Oracle Network (DON) infrastructure that has secured $75+ billion in DeFi TVL at its peak and enabled $16+ trillion in onchain transaction value since the start of 2022.
- Secure Token Transfers — CCTs are token logic agnostic, meaning token developers can deploy pre-audited token pool contracts to turn any ERC20-compatible token into a CCT or deploy their own custom token pool contracts for bespoke token use cases. CCTs do not require token developers to inherit any CCIP-specific code within their token’s smart contract. CCTs also benefit from additional security functions in their CCIP token pools such as configurable rate limits and reliability features such as Smart Execution, which helps ensure reliable transaction execution on the destination chain regardless of blockchain network congestion.
- Programmable Token Transfers — CCIP enables the transfer of value (via CCTs) cross-chain along with data instructions informing the receiving smart contract on what to do with those tokens once they arrive on the destination chain. Through cross-chain programmability, CCIP can condense a complex set of actions involving multiple users, blockchains, and assets down to a single atomic cross-chain instruction.
- Extendable and future-proof — CCIP is built to be future-proof for developers, where future improvements can continue to be made, including the integration of new blockchain networks, the onboarding of additional tokens, and the incorporation of new defense-in-depth approaches to security.
Learn more: Chainlink Cross-Chain
Enhanced Transparency: Chainlink Proof of Reserve
To further enhance user confidence in zBTC, Zeus has adopted Chainlink Proof of Reserve to provide onchain transparency into the reserves backing zBTC. This will provide our users with additional visibility into the overall backing of zBTC.
Key benefits of Chainlink Proof of Reserve include:
- Programmatic utility — By bringing reserve data onchain, protocols can build automated logic around the reserve data backing an asset thus building new use cases and features such as automated onchain risk management.
- Decentralized — As the standard for verifiable data, Chainlink Proof of Reserve Feeds are decentralized at the data source and oracle node level, eliminating central points of failure in the sourcing and delivery of external data to blockchains.
- Transparent — Chainlink Proof of Reserve Feeds can be monitored by anyone in real-time, allowing any user to independently verify asset collateralization, bringing increased transparency and trust to onchain products.
Check zBTC Reserve: Chainlink Proof of Reserve
About Chainlink
Chainlink is the standard for onchain finance, verifiable data, and cross-chain interoperability. Chainlink is unifying liquidity across global markets and has enabled over $20 trillion in transaction value across the blockchain economy. Major financial market infrastructures and institutions, such as Swift, Fidelity International, and ANZ Bank, as well as top DeFi protocols including Aave, GMX, and Lido, use Chainlink to power next-generation applications for banking, asset management, and other major sectors. Learn more by visiting chain.link
