The Role of Zenrock Labs

Crypto loves the slogan "all value accrues to the token." In practice, that is usually fiction.

Real protocols need a real operating company to build product, ship integrations, support partners, run audits, handle compliance, grow awareness through BD and events, help third-party builders deploy, and maintain core infrastructure. That's Zenrock Labs. And all of this costs money.

Zenrock Labs is the most important developer contributing to the Zenrock ecosystem and thus has a key place in zrChain tokenomics with a fixed 35% share of protocol fees. This fee share in turn will allow Zenrock Labs to direct all offchain revenue it earns to the tokenomics top of funnel, maximizing alignment while strengthening the transparency between Zenrock Labs and the protocol.

Projects that underfund their Labs Co end up with stalled development, missed partnerships, and slow ecosystem growth. The token holder suffers. A well-resourced Labs Co means more products, faster growth, stronger partnerships, and a more valuable network.

But here is the problem: very often Labs Co has no direct way to participate in the protocol's success: they are completely cut out of the tokenomic model. So invariably they find other ways to make money. Offchain deals, backdoor arrangements, quiet revenue streams that never touch the token. Labs Co says "all value accrues to the token" while quietly building a separate business on the side. This activity is pervasive.

Zenrock Labs does not operate that way. We see transparency as a structural advantage. $ROCK tokenholders are not stakeholders in Zenrock Labs and we don't suggest they are, but we understand that it is crucial for the protocol to align disparate economic incentives by design. So instead of backroom deals that benefit a Labs Co while the token flatlines, we built alignment into the protocol itself with a simple transparent revenue share that aligns and benefits all parties.

To that end, Zenrock Labs receives an enshrined 35% of all protocol fees. This isn't a hidden offchain drain on the protocol. It's a transparent investment in everything that makes the protocol worth owning.