DoubleZero has no peers and so must be built from first principles, customized to high-performance blockchains. This ethos extends to the 2Z token, whose design ignores tired playbooks and is instead tailored to the protocol’s needs. And while this article tells us what the 2Z token is, we figured it is equally useful to explain what the 2Z token is not.
2Z is not a “governance” token
Many crypto projects could function without their own token; and candidly most of these basically do. Such projects rely on the Layer 1 token for frictionless transactions and seamless operations. The project’s native token has no real utility and is often shoehorned into tired roles like “bootstrapping liquidity” or underdeveloped “governance.” Such tokens are functionally memecoins, that share their names and tickers with their respective projects, but do not drive operations. Any such token could vanish, and the project would continue undisturbed.
This is not 2Z: the 2Z token has a strong identity as a utility token. The DoubleZero system divides its collected 2Z revenue amongst network contributors to support their infrastructure investments. DoubleZero further uses 2Z to power the project's security by removing incentives to send inorganic traffic. Thus, without the 2Z token, there is no DoubleZero as we know it. (And ironically, governance is one of the few features not related to the token at launch.)
2Z is not a DEPIN-flationary token
Like many other crypto projects, DEPIN (decentralized physical infrastructure) projects have a cold start problem: they need supply to serve demand, and demand to monetize supply. Almost all DEPIN projects thus choose a strategy we nickname “DEPIN-flationary”: they mint protocol tokens aggressively to reward early suppliers for providing supply. Suppliers quickly mine such emissions, sometimes by installing useful infrastructure and sometimes by installing low-quality or redundant infrastructure. Finally, in virtually all cases, demand does not materialize quickly, leaving an imbalanced protocol with a heavily diluted token. The protocol must live with this debt in perpetuity, as it attempts to onboard demand in the coming years while retaining suppliers, all out of a meager Treasury.
At its core, such protocols make one simple but fatal mistake: they overpay for supply that has no corresponding demand. The cold start problem quickly morphs into an overhang problem. If the project is lucky, the high-quality supply may one day serve such demand (if the protocol can convince the supplier to stick around); but in most cases, the low-quality supply installed during this initial boom will never see any such demand.
This is not 2Z. DoubleZero only rewards suppliers who provide useful supply, where useful requires contemporaneous and organic demand. This is implemented through a few simple steps. First, there are no protocol emissions that flow to suppliers: suppliers only earn the revenue that DoubleZero users pay in that epoch. Second, that revenue is not apportioned on the basis of simple and gameable metrics, but on the basis of the ability of suppliers to facilitate latency improvements over the public internet and only for the corridors that have actual demand. Supply, in short, is only paid if it drives actual value today.
2Z is not a Solana token
The 2Z token is issued on the Solana blockchain as an SPL token. Moreover, DoubleZero’s first focus is Solana, and it intends to do everything it can to help Solana IBRL. As such, one might be tempted to believe therefore that 2Z is a Solana token.
This is not 2Z. DoubleZero is a project to empower all high-performance decentralized and distributed systems. Solana is simply the leader in the space, and that position — coupled with innovations at the validator client and protocol levels — means that it can use DoubleZero most immediately. But other high-performance blockchain systems are innovating furiously too, and DoubleZero has the bandwidth to serve them all. The 2Z token in turn will continue to underpin DoubleZero as it ushers in this broad and expansive vision of network performance, as a token that transcends any one blockchain ecosystem.
Disclaimer
The information on this page (“Information”) is for general informational purposes only and does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy any securities, options, futures, or other derivatives related to securities in any jurisdiction, nor should not be relied upon as advice to buy, sell or hold any of the foregoing. The Information is not and does not contain tax, legal or investment advice or opinion. The Information is based on information available at the time of its preparation and is subject to change without notice. The Information contains “forward looking statements” that express or involve discussions with respect to predictions, expectations, beliefs, plans, projections, objectives, goals, assumptions or future events or performance and are not statements of historical facts. Forward looking statements are based on expectations, estimates and projections at the time the statements are made and involve a number of risks and uncertainties which could cause actual results or events to differ materially from those presently anticipated. Neither the author nor the DoubleZero team can provide any guarantee or certainty with respect to any forward looking statement. The author is affiliated with the DoubleZero team and may have a financial interest in the project and token discussed. The 2Z token referenced here is not yet functional and may never have any utility or value. There is no guarantee that the project will succeed or that the token will be usable for any specific purpose.
Originally published September 2025. Last updated May 2026.