Original Author: Social Graph Ventures

Initial Conception

When we initially drafted this memo, ZORA had just launched, token prices were rapidly declining, and the project narrative was not yet clear.

But we were not betting on a meme coin, but on a protocol with the ability to iterate quickly and "monetize on-chain attention".

Over the past few years, ZORA has gradually evolved from a simple minting platform to a protocol product with independent L2 infrastructure, ultimately transforming into a consumer-grade application that helps creators monetize on-chain.

It had several distinctive characteristics early on:

·Rapid iteration launch: Supporting AI-generated content, native USDC payment integration, mobile-first user interface

·Unique creator token model with viral propagation attributes

·Clearly quantifiable protocol revenue mechanism

·Team with deep product and market design capabilities

Its on-chain mechanism design is extremely compact and efficient:

·Creators mint content on the platform, fans support by purchasing their tokens

·All transaction liquidity is routed through ZORA tokens

·Tokens are quoted in ZORA and traded on Uniswap v4

·In each transaction, Zora Labs takes approximately 0.25% in fees

At its peak, ZORA's annualized transaction volume was close to $5 billion, with estimated annual revenue of $6 million. Although most transactions do not occur within the official application, we believe this is an wedge opportunity, not a structural weakness.

What's Happening with Zora Now?

Although the ZORA price remains below its post-TGE high, the product itself has become more powerful.

Creator tokens have been launched and are running well. Any user can mint their own creator token and bind it to a content token. These tokens are traded based on bonding curves, quoted in ZORA, and can be settled instantly.

The entire experience is like a TikTok feed embedded with market mechanisms, where attention can be instantly monetized and flow freely.

[Images omitted]

User activity is healthy:

·Creators with over 5 post interactions have a 30-day retention rate between 11-27% (a16z considers 25% D30 an excellent indicator for social products).

·Creator activity is continuously improving: from an average of 3 posts per month in the first month to 10 posts per month in the fourth month.

The pricing pair model further amplifies usage frequency, a mechanism first pioneered by Virtuals.

Each token transaction involves:

·The creator themselves

·The buyer

·The Zora Labs team

·ZORA itself

Functions like referral invitations, top token holders' comment pinning, and post monetization are gradually building an "attention economy" in a crypto context.

This is a consumer-grade product that truly generates protocol revenue.

Zora's distribution challenge is being gradually solved.

Now, it has deeply integrated with Base through an official application called TBD. This application adopts a TikTok-like form, built on Zora's protocol foundation.

It is no longer just a monetization channel, but is transforming into a complete underlying infrastructure. They have distilled the entire ecosystem into six key pillars:

·Built-in content sharing mechanism: Product process encourages users to share creations on external social platforms;

·Creator incentive program: Allocating $1 million to attract small and medium creators in music, fashion, lifestyle, and meme domains (TikTok followers below 10,000, Instagram followers around 50-60,000);

·User growth investment: Paid promotion on social platforms like TikTok;

·Token incentive distribution: 20% in TGE used for incentive programs, including both transaction rewards and diverse community development incentives;

·Events and media exposure: Reaching crypto and creator communities through podcasts and events;

·Developer integration collaboration: Teams like Base and Noice are developing features and ecosystem building based on the Zora protocol.

Currently, searching "Zora" on TikTok yields almost no relevant content. This means that with moderate effort, its explosive growth potential on social platforms remains enormous.

·Jacob Horne (Co-founder and CEO): Former Coinbase product manager who was responsible for core products such as USDC and Coinbase Ventures, focusing on Ethereum and DeFi. He has in-depth insights into crypto market design, Non-Fungible Token, and creator economy. He is a core spokesperson for Zora, focusing on the Zora project since 2019, and was also involved in the early crypto fashion field.

·Dee Goens (Co-founder): Former member of Coinbase marketing team, and one of the key participants in the early Non-Fungible Token wave. He built the early community strategy and collaborative ecosystem for Zora, and has long been committed to empowering underrepresented creator groups.

·Tyson Battistella (Co-founder and CTO): Leads Zora's technical development, former Coinbase smart contract architect, who built the infrastructure for the Zora protocol, including core minting tools, L2 solutions, and other technical modules.

Token Structure

Zora officially launched its token (TGE) on April 23, 2025, with a total supply of 10 billion tokens, with its valuation once reaching up to $600 million, invested by institutions like Haun Ventures.

Distribution is as follows:

·Strategic Investors: 26.1% (2.61 billion)

·Team: 18.9% (1.89 billion)

·Community Incentives: 20% (2 billion)

·Treasury: 20% (2 billion)

·Airdrop: 10% (1 billion)

·Liquidity: 5% (500 million)

Unlocking Mechanism:

·Airdrop and Liquidity (15%): Fully unlocked at TGE.

·Community Incentives (20%): Fully unlocked at TGE, used for ecosystem building and incentive distribution.

·Team and Strategic Investors (45%): 6-month cliff after TGE, linear monthly unlocking starting from October 23, 2025, with a period of 36 months.

·Treasury (20%): Also linearly unlocked starting from October 23, with a period of 48 months.

Conclusion

Although ZORA has not yet achieved price recovery, its on-chain usage activity, content ecosystem integration, creator participation retention rate, and protocol revenue capability have shown structural improvement.

The significance of Zora goes beyond token issuance or hype, but provides a sustainable monetization path for the entire attention economy through content minting mechanisms.

In the crypto consumption field, we still view it as one of the most promising long-term opportunities.

Click to learn about BlockBeats job openings

Welcome to join the official BlockBeats community:

Telegram Subscription Group: https://t.me/theblockbeats

Telegram Discussion Group: https://t.me/BlockBeats_App

Official Twitter Account: https://twitter.com/BlockBeatsAsia