ZENZO: Q&A

Joseph Bryce Hart — Co-Founder & CEO

1. Why gaming crypto?

The gaming industry is experiencing exponential growth with over nearly 2 billion gamers worldwide and the buying power of this market is estimated at approximately $135 billion USD annually. There are several major problems with the way the publishers produce games including: 100% centralized governance and ownership, lack of accountability and transparency, account-bound items, and dead-end investments. Both blockchain technology and cryptocurrency can solve some, if not all of these issues.

By decentralizing ownership of assets or in-game items, backed by a fungible currency, gamers can partake in a game economy and ecosystem that is traceable, verifiable, and legitimate. This means that players not only own their items that they earn or purchase in the game, but they’re also able to prove an item’s provenance through the blockchain. By having true ownership of transferable assets, the items you own have the potential for availability in future releases or even interoperability with other games.

Just like any in-game economy, players help to determine the value and demand of their items, and can then buy, sell, and trade them for an actual, real-world value. All of the hours spent playing your favorite games and grinding the most legendary of items can now be exchanged into real monetary value and allow the gamer to benefit just for playing.

Every action on the blockchain is traceable, meaning that game developers cannot just create 1,000 new legendary items behind closed doors. This also helps to create a better trust and communication between game developers and their community. It also enables a better perception of item value. Generally, blockchain-based projects are driven largely by open-source development and technology, meaning it is inclusive. This creates a bridge between gamers and game developers, allowing for the player’s voices to be heard. Without the players, what is a game really?

2. ZENZO specs and how this translates to English for non-crypto speakers?

The ZENZO Ecosystem is fueled by the ZNZ Coin, the digital currency of ZENZO. Though anyone can participate, even without owning the ZNZ Coin, by holding it you are open to a wide range of benefits that is growing daily.

Our intention is to create a way for gamers to be able to play the games they love, develop the games they want to play, and making a living doing it.

Some highlights of the ZENZO Ecosystem:

• ZNZ Coin — Digital Currency (Exchangeable, Backed by Monetary Value)
• Passive Income — Gain rewards for holding the ZNZ Coin
• Marketplace — Discounted Games, In-Game Items, etc.
• Asset Ownership — Permanent ownership of tradable, in-game items
• Game Development — Incubator with Community Support
• Community Voting — Community Created Games
• Exclusive Access — Tournaments, Game Releases, & More
• Active Team — Transparency, Support, & Collaboration

Translating the entire ecosystem into a seamless platform that’s simple to use is of prime importance in integrating everyday folks. Luckily, as we mentioned above, gamers have experience with in-game economies and building a system to mimic those within our ecosystem. This will enable people to easily participate, regardless of their experience with cryptocurrency and blockchain. We want ZENZO to be a universal language that all gamers can easily speak.

3. Why ZENZO is unique?

ZENZO is unique in that we are building an all-encompassing ecosystem for both gamers and game developers that hasn’t been built yet. We have a strong focus on involving community in our decision making and developing a network of partners that can bring significant change to the space. Aside from creating a universal platform for gamers that will allow them to make a living doing what they love, we are also developing games that utilize our ecosystem, blockchain, cryptocurrency, and allow for potential interoperability with other games and platforms. As a large part of adoption is awareness, ZENZO is going to be participating in blockchain initiatives that help spread awareness through education. Furthermore, ZENZO was founded with no outside funding or ICO, but simply from the passion of the gamers doing what they love.

4. Who is behind ZENZO? Backgrounds?

The ZENZO team is truly international, being comprised of individuals from North America, South America, Europe, and Asia. We are happy to say that our team is truly diverse and come from all different backgrounds, but what brings everyone together is their love for gaming, blockchain, and cryptocurrency.

After the official PIVX Alliance, a handful of PIVX team and community members joined ZENZO as team, ambassadors, and advisors. We are happy to say there is no better way to truly make a difference in this space without working together. A large majority of the team has worked on several or many other projects beforehand and even now. Some of the most notable projects are Veil, Blocksafe, VELA Solutions, Devault, Phore, and more. To check out the team in more detail, please visit the official ZENZO website.

5. How ZENZO will be funded?

ZENZO is self-funded through team investments and a premine of the ZENZO coin (ZNZ). There was no ICO or presale and though it is a more difficult road to travel, we wanted to build it from the ground up. Through this premine, we have developed a 10+ year plan to distribute the funding that will cover all of the following categories: ZENZO Blockchain, ZENZO Arcade, and ZENZO Hatchery. Most importantly, a large portion of that funding will go to support the ZENZO Hatchery, which is the game incubator (game development, launch, and testing). Included in the Hatchery is the world of eSports and tournaments, where ZENZO plans to break into the mainstream. This is where we will be able to introduce and implement both blockchain technology and cryptocurrency on a grand scale. It’s also important to note that less than 5% of the total premine is being used to fund team growth and day-to-day operations, with another ~7% funding the hatchery incubator.

For more information regarding the transparent premine, please visit the official ZENZO GitHub, Discord, or Website.

6. Plans for exchanges?

Currently, ZENZO (ZNZ) is listed on 5 exchanges: CryptoBridge, CREX 24, TXBit, Social SEND, and Swiftex. While we would like to be on larger exchanges, our current priority is to create more value and use cases for the ZENZO coin (ZNZ). If we were approached by reputable exchanges, that meet our requirements, we have no intention of turning them down. Our current priority is further developing the ZENZO Ecosystem, products, and community and then looking onward.

7. What is/will be ZENZO marketing plan?

With the growth of gaming and its market value estimated to reach 90 billion dollars, our strategy is to reach both gamers that are familiar with cryptocurrency and blockchain, along with traditional gamers that are not. We believe that one of the best ways to do this is to create player-driven tournaments (eSports) and partner with industry influencers and streamers to help communicate this message. Twitch alone has over 2.2 million streamers and that’s not including many other websites and platforms like YouTube, Facebook, and more.

In today’s gaming landscape the two key trends critical to the success of most studios are platform loyalty and franchise loyalty. Take Steam for instance, most gamers love the platform due to it not only having the most recent releases but also for incubating many independent games. Even with the progress that’s been made, there still needs to be more of a focus on community — gamers need a home, just like the old days where gamers would meet in arcades. ZENZO plans to further develop our community and create an atmosphere where gamers can learn, play, and earn.

With this in mind, our strategy is not to only be the platform, but also be the influencer that brings attention to the entire ecosystem and how it was designed to benefit gamers. The plan is straight-forward — grow a following on gaming platforms such as Twitch.tv, Youtube Gaming, Dlive.tv, and others to promote the ZENZO products and community and create more use cases and benefits for the ZENZO coin (ZNZ). We want people to be excited to pioneer the gaming sector with us because ultimately ZENZO is for the gamer, by the gamer, through blockchain.

8. What the governance of ZENZO will be like by 2020?

Originally, ZENZO planned on using a decentralized governance system early on, but realized that many existing models are often heavily exploited. In the end, they are not truly decentralized or as fair as maybe they were originally intended. We plan on introducing our own system, utilizing research we have performed on governance systems both from the blockchain space and government systems worldwide. As one of our main focuses is making sure the system is “as fair as possible”, we will be extensively testing prototypes to ensure the safety of this model. More details will be released about these systems in the near future, but please note that ZENZO plans to have both internal and external decision making that will not only be used to help create direction for games in the ZENZO Hatchery, but also could influence the direction of ZENZO Ecosystem as a whole. Most importantly, the governance system will utilize people’s respective talents and safeguards them from exploitation. We look to create weighted values that play a factor from all departments involved in the ZENZO governance.

9. Who are ZENZO’s closest competitors, how different are they?

No project to our knowledge has a similar approach to an ecosystem that we do. ZENZO sees itself as an ally to any project, game, and gamer out there that is not malicious or morally bankrupt. We are constantly working with other projects and games to establish healthy and mutually beneficial relationships. Where there could be considered business competitors, we aim to look for ways to work together as developing the “ultimate” system for gamers requires interoperability across all platforms and games they enjoy.

Notable mentions in the space who are attacking similar issues are:

Worldwide Asset eXchange (WAX) considers themselves a Global Decentralized Marketplace for Video Game Virtual Assets. Though they are an ERC-20 token, they use a delegated Proof of Stake system, where as ZENZO utilizes a standard Proof of Stake protocol and a custom, independent blockchain. WAX seems to be primarily focused on creating a decentralized marketplace for digital goods, whereas that is only one facet of the ZENZO Ecosystem and the ZENZO Arcade plans to extend beyond just digital assets.

Enjin considers themselves an “All-in-One Blockchain Game Development Platform” that is also attacking a large number of problems. They seem to be primarily seeking to serve game developers and simplify the process, while empowering both their developers and players by utilizing the many benefits of blockchain. They have SDKs that allow for developers to create both fungible and non-fungible tokens on the Ethereum Blockchain. Some of these include ERC-721 and ERC-1155 tokens. This aspect of minting and melting is also very similar to the ZENZO Forge, except the Forge is based on the ZENZO Blockchain, rather than Ethereum. This means that the transaction speed and time will be much quicker, which is also one of the largest problems right now with Ethereum for blockchain games. They are unable to scale realistically because of the delayed transaction time, along with the enormous blockchain fees.

10. What current partnerships ZENZO has and what will be its purpose?

As of now, the largest partnership that ZENZO has is with PIVX. As the ZENZO Blockchain is a fork PIVX, it is our intention to develop better relations with both the PIVX team and community. Since that initial partnership passed with overwhelming support, things have been going exceptionally well. A handful of the PIVX team has decided to join as core team, ambassadors, and advisors for ZENZO. The PIVX cryptocurrency has been officially accepted as the third form of payment on the ZENZO Arcade, where PIVX holders can now make direct purchase with their desktop and mobile wallets to purchase video games. We are currently working on our second public proposal in the PIVX ecosystem, with hopes to collectively help integrate cryptocurrency more into the gaming industry.

CoinDreams is one of our other primary partnerships. CoinDreams is a rapidly growing free mobile app that allows for people to learn about the latest events from some of their favorite projects. Some of the events covered on this app are giveaways, bounties, airdrops, contests, and soon to be promos and presales. Though CoinDreams is not limited to gaming, most of the events hosted are actually from blockchain-based games. The founder, Josep Gonzalez, shares a similar vision with ZENZO and would like to help educate and bring awareness for the mass adoption of cryptocurrency and blockchain technology. Our goals with CoinDreams are to find new people, educate them about blockchain and make it fun by incentivizing the process.

We currently have a partnership in the works with a network of over 10,000 gamers and professional streamers, with over 5 million subscribers working to build a collective community focused on the betterment of eSports and gaming. We can’t currently speak on exactly who it is or what this entails, but be sure to follow us on social media to get the latest news.

11. Please explain and list ZENZO gaming offers.

The first product release was the ZENZO Arcade (Alpha), which is a digital marketplace to buy discounted games with cryptocurrency. Currently, you can purchase games with ZNZ, BTC, and PIVX. One simple benefit of running a standard node (wallet/staking) or masternode of the ZENZO Coin (ZNZ) is that you can earn block rewards and buy games with them. One of the best forms of passive income, purchasing games for supporting your favorite network!

ZENZO is focused on creating countless benefits not just for gamers, but also game developers. The ZENZO Forge (Alpha) was the second product release, which allows for developers (primarily game developers) to create in-game items in the form of ZENZO Blockchain-based, transferable assets. These assets allow for players to have 100% ownership of their assets, in which they can buy, sell, trade, and even smelt (destroy) them. This offers numerous benefits for both the players and game developers and helps bridge the gap by increasing transparency and communication between both parties.

Aside from the Arcade and Forge, the ZENZO Hatchery is the third main element. The Hatchery is similar to an incubator and aims to provide assistance with game development in terms of development, design, marketing, market research, and funding. The Hatchery is actively sponsoring eSports by co-creating tournaments with other games, projects, and players. The first tournament that was sponsored was the Axie League, based off the blockchain game Axie Infinity. Players who compete in these tournaments can earn all different types of rewards, both digital, physical, and of course the ZENZO Coin (ZNZ).

12. Please share the tokenomics for ZENZO.

Starting from the top, there was no ICO or crowdsale, as ZENZO originally started as a community takeover project. In order to make this transition, a coin swap was issued immediately after the new blockchain was created. There was a transparent premine of 16,800,000 ZNZ and 6,250,000 in total was allocated for the coin swap. The co-founders have taken 0 ZNZ for themselves. The ZENZO admin wallet currently holds 10 million ZNZ that is public and has been since the beginning. This address can be found on the block explorer and in the ZENZO Discord. These funds are not locked by a contract, but considered locked until the new official distribution and coin economics (tokenomics) model is released publicly. Up until this point, ZENZO has only used roughly 500,000 ZNZ for the past 10 months to get the project to where it is now. As of June 2019, ZENZO has come into new financial leadership and brought on a new Managing Director to help create a long-term and sustainable tokenomics model that is more beneficial to not only ZENZO, but the holders of the ZENZO Coin (ZNZ).

Below are the blockchain specifications and to learn more about the ZENZO Coin (ZNZ), you can visit the MasterNodes.Pro website that has all of the latest data regarding the ZENZO Blockchain and Coin.

Maximum Coin Supply 83,000,000
Inflation per year 4,354,560
Premine 16,800,000 ZNZ

Consensus Algorithm Proof of Stake (PoS)

Hashing Algorithm Xevan

Masternode Collateral 15,000 ZNZ

Block Time 1 Minute

Block Size 2 MB

Block Maturity 50 Blocks

Block Confirmation 10

PoS Minimum Age 3 hours

PoS Maximum Age Ø

Block Rewards (Staking) 35%

Block Rewards (Masternodes) 65%

13. Current platform statistics and growth analysis?

Currently, ZENZO could be broken down into the following categories: ZENZO Arcade (Alpha), ZENZO Forge (Alpha), website, and social media (Discord & Twitter). Since the official launch of the ZENZO Arcade on 2/9/2019, there are now over 250 registered users. The ZENZO Forge (Alpha) now has over 60 downloads since the initial launch on 5/11/2019. Social Media for ZENZO extends to many platforms, but primarily is focused on Discord and Twitter. Both Discord and Twitter which are around 2,000 members/followers. The overall growth since the first quarter of 2019 has been 254%+ for Discord and 345%+ for Twitter. The official website has a 15,000% increase on site traffic and unique visits since the first quarter of 2019. All of this growth has been through organic marketing and word of mouth. It was our intention to develop out our platforms a bit first before we began to really market them, which was covered in question 7.

14. How much funds do the core team have in budget for development and marketing?

Please reference question 12, where we elaborated more on the accessible funding for ZENZO. In short, 10 million ZNZ is available for development and marketing and is planned to sustain the project over the next 10 years. Our goal from the beginning has been to create a long-term plan. Furthermore, keep in mind that ZENZO has been primarily self-funded, as opposed to liquidating the ZENZO Coin (ZNZ). When appropriate market thickness is achieved, we will be capable of scaling even faster and allowing for ZENZO to be more efficient.

15. What will the roadmap look like after 2019?

We are currently working on a new roadmap that will cover that question in better detail. For now, we don’t want to spoil too much, but we can share a few key points of what to expect. After 2019, we plan to release the mainnet of both the ZENZO Arcade and the ZENZO Forge. This will include many more features and benefits than both the Alpha and Beta models will have. Expect a new and improved ZENZO wallet that will not only make the use of ZNZ easier and more efficient, it will also include an interface for the ZENZO Blockchain Transferable Assets. Alongside that, ZENZO is currently working on several game concepts, but you can expect after 2019 to have the first playable game (not mini game) on the ZENZO Blockchain.

ZENZO Resources

• Website: https://zenzo.io/
• Whitepaper: https://zenzo.io/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/ZENZO-GM-Scroll-v1.0-WhitePaper-English.pdf
• Github: https://github.com/Zenzo-Ecosystem

Social Media

• Official Telegram: https://t.me/Zenzo_Telegram
• Discord: https://discord.gg/hUDDV8H
• Bitcointalk: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5050964.0
• Medium: http://medium.zenzo.io/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/zenzo_ecosystem
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Zenzoecosystem

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