Panther Protocol’s $ZKP Token Launches, Sets to Revolutionize Private Finance

By Marketcap Nov 23, 2022 0 212 Add to Reading List

In the growing DeFi panorama, both institutional traders and retail investors are starting to notice the inherent privacy issues with the most popular Layer-1 blockchains.

The extreme transparency of L1s such as Ethereum, Solana, and Avalanche, to name a few, leaves investors vulnerable to attacks such as front-running and MEV. Meanwhile, the lack of interchain features to seize the many opportunities of a thriving ecosystem keeps billions of dollars in value separated. And, of course, traceability and surveillance are issues permanently looming on the horizon.

Introducing Panther Protocol, the Missing Piece in the PriFi Ecosystem

While most of the crypto ecosystem is aware of the privacy pitfalls of otherwise ground-breaking blockchains, Privacy Finance has not yet had its chance to blossom.

This is because many of its proponents offer fragmented, siloed solutions to the privacy vs. trust paradox, hindering their utility and adoption. Privacy coins are generally not programmable or EVM-compatible. Currently available L2 solutions are usually centralized. On-chain mixers are single-use and can’t grow their own ecosystem. Even on-chain L1 solutions have, by nature, single points of failure. Moreover, the privacy ecosystem consisting of several isolated projects yields scant network effects, hindering growth across the board.

Panther protocol aims to solve this by creating a unique system full of synergic products and on-chain services. These include private liquidity and transactions for all crypto assets, an affordable and scalable private interchain DEX, trustless data proofs enabling privacy-preserving data sharing in Web3, and multiple other impactful PriFi solutions.

Users of Panther will be able to wrap any token, in any chain, as a zAsset used to transact privately. For example, 1 zETH would be a 1:1 shielded representation of an Ether, ready to be used across DeFi applications and on multiple chains. Panther is currently building on Ethereum, Polygon, Near, Avalanche, Elrond and Flare.

At the center of Panther protocol’s design is its token, $ZKP, which plays a crucial role in Panther’s vision to infuse DeFi with privacy. $ZKP’s numerous utilities and thoughtful tokenomics founded on game theory are designed to help the token accrue value while the protocol captures TVL. This article explores the need for Panther in PriFi, $ZKP’s potential, and the main factors that can influence Panther’s TVL.

Panther’s Roadmap, in Less Than a Minute

Panther’s go-to-market strategies can be summarized in three stages:

Launching with an audience of retail investors seeking privacy on Layer-1 and Layer-2 blockchains. Panther’s interchain features can attract users seeking yields in different blockchains, creating positive Alpha for institutions to follow.
Building credibility and use cases to eventually encompass the entire existing DeFi economy and those attracted to it thanks to enhanced privacy. Institutions can use Panther as a decentralized version of institutional Dark Pools, explained below.
Eventually, becoming a centerpiece in the design of all Web3 applications, enabling a fully private on-chain economy, and DeFi as a whole.

Utilities of the ZKP Token

Some of the behaviors that Panther incentivizes through $ZKP are:

Staking $ZKP to earn rewards for adding tokens to Pools and increasing the privacy set, that is, the quality of its privacy. This decreases the supply of $ZKP and drives its value up. Panther can act as a price discovery mechanism for privacy, bringing in new users for a positive feedback loop, eventually lowering the cost of privacy for everyone.
Bootstrapping the growth of the Protocol by encouraging the Panther DAO to buy back $ZKP tokens to create reward programs.
Having a system of bridges to multiple chains that pays fees privately on behalf of users, furthering anonymity, to earn $ZKP.
The DAO can purchase $ZKP from the open market using the fees collected from users receiving discounts. These fees will then be used by the Panther DAO to pay for all the services above. This could make $ZKP deflationary depending on network activity.