A New NFT Standard Emerges: ZFI-1

6 min readMar 6, 2021

Over the past few years, the non-fungible token (NFT) culture has grown exponentially. Demand continues to increase as there are more utilities and purposes being created for these unique, non-divisible tokens. NFTs popularity has been increasing specifically in the blockchain gaming industry. Allowing players to truly own their game assets that they earn in-game, buy from the game itself, or trade on peer-to-peer markets has given players what they have always dreamed of — making a living doing what you love.

The above image displays data for the “Top Collections” across multiple blockchains, though primarily on Ethereum. Large companies and well-known brands like Atari, Street Fighter, NBA (Top Shot) have not only seen the potential that NFTs bring, but have been heavily involved in the growth and development as well. Since the emergence of this technology and its growing demand, there are many different blockchains creating their own standards for NFTs, while the ERC-721 and ERC-1155 standards are among the most popular.

The largest bottlenecks that these non-fungible tokens face are ultimately hurting both collectors, gamers, and developers. If users cannot play the game because the gas prices are too high for every single transaction and there’s a long confirmation wait time, it’s like having a brand new car with no gas to drive it. In other words, it is not playable but for a select few. Largely, both blockchain and non-fungible tokens were created to empower individuals and give equal access to this technology from anywhere around the world and at anytime.

Since these bottlenecks are well-known and they are nothing new to the space, many projects and companies have been working on what are called side-chains or Layer-2 solutions to help make the experience cheaper and faster. ZENZO is a long time believer of creating solutions for specific problems from the beginning, that is why the ZENZO Blockchain itself was designed for gaming — focusing specifically on this field. Additionally, this is also the reason for the birth of the ZENZO Forge, which serves as a metadata network to allow for realistic scalability.

Thanks to these challenges, ZENZO has created two solutions to combat these issues. The first one is the ZENZO Forge, which is a peer-to-peer metadata network that allows for fast and scalable transactions without compromising data integrity along the way. The ZENZO Forge uses timestamped tx-ids on the ZENZO Blockchain, which can be viewed on the block explorer.

What is the ZENZO Forge?

The ZENZO Forge is a peer-to-peer metadata network that runs alongside the ZENZO Blockchain as a Layer 1 solution. This decentralized application utilizes the benefits of blockchain, without encountering the same bottlenecks — high transaction fees and slow confirmation times. This technology is entirely open-source and users are not subject to any third-party fees from ZENZO.

ZENZO Forge Items (ZFIs)

Crafting: 0.001 ZNZ (Blockchain Network Fee)
Transferring: 0.001 ZNZ (Blockchain Network Fee)
Smelting: Free
ZNZ Reserve Value: Amount of ZNZ infused into the item

For example, crafting a ZENZO Forge Item (ZFI) requires a 0.001 ZNZ blockchain fee, as well as transferring. Smelting, which destroys the NFT and returns the ZNZ Reserve Value instantly to the owner, costs nothing. At the time of this article, the 0.001 ZNZ fee translates to approximately $0.000066985 USD. Feasibility and scalability were built into every piece of the ZENZO Ecosystem and most importantly designed by gamers, who understand the largest problems and points of failure in blockchain gaming.

What is the ZFI-1 Standard?

The ZFI-1 is the first NFT standard created by ZENZO Ecosystem core developers. This first standard is for unique, immalleable, indivisible tokens that proposes a stable, universal protocol for items with traits that cannot be copied. These ZENZO NFTs were coined “ZENZO Forge Items” or a “ZFI”, as they directly relate to the ZENZO Forge and the concept of an item is easier for a gamer to grasp, rather than the term “non-fungible token”.

The Process: How it works

(Through the ZENZO Forge Interface)

1. Establish ZFI parameters and item properties
2. Create a token, linked to a verified action on the blockchain (tx-id)
3. Auto-Locks the ZNZ into the item (able to be unlocked or smelted at anytime)
4. Use, Collect, Trade, or Smelt

At the current stage, the ZFI-1 Standard works by creating a unique token from the transaction-id on the ZENZO Blockchain, which it then locks inside the ZENZO Core Wallet. These actions are viewable at all times on the ZENZO Core Wallet, ZENZO Forge GUI, and the ZENZO Block Explorer(s).

What to expect in the near future…

ZENZO is developing a ZFI Explorer, which will showcase every single ZFI that is on-chain, as well as the ZENZO Forge Network stats. Currently, ZENZO Chan (bot) inside of the ZENZO Discord, displays all of the network stats. Here are two example commands zforge stats + zforge item <itemname>:

Further iterations and ideas being explored in the foreseeable future include: mobile application adoption, integration of ZFIs into the ZENZO Arcade (Marketplace) for buying, selling, and trading, different ZFI Standards (including non-ZNZ backed items), and more. To stay up to date with the latest news, be sure to follow ZENZO Social Media.

ZENZO Chan + Kiyori 3 Year Anniversary ZFI Art

A Special Thank You

🎁 Your gift awaits…

On February 22, 2021, ZENZO Ecosystem celebrated its 3 year anniversary! As a way of saying thank you, there are 100 “ZENZO 3 Year Anniversary” ZFIs that will be distributed to the first 100 people who create ZENZO Forge Profiles. These ZFIs will only be crafted during this limited time for a max supply of 100 official copies — each backed with 5 ZNZ. For any questions, it is best to join the ZENZO Discord and ask the team and community directly. *These ZFIs will be distributed once 100 ZENZO Forge Profiles are created.