Original Author: Social Graph Ventures

Initial Concept

When we first wrote this memo internally, ZORA had just launched, the token price was rapidly declining, and the project narrative was not yet clear.

However, we are not betting on a meme coin; we are betting on a protocol that can iterate rapidly and has the ability for "on-chain attention monetization."

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

It had several distinct features early on:

· Rapid iteration and launch: supporting AI-generated content, native integration of USDC payments, mobile-first user interface

· Unique creator coin model with viral propagation attributes

· Clearly quantifiable protocol revenue mechanism

· The team possesses deep product and market design capabilities

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

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

· All transaction liquidity is routed through ZORA tokens

· Tokens are priced in ZORA and traded on Uniswap v4

· Zora Labs takes approximately 0.25% in fees from each transaction

At its peak, ZORA's annual trading volume approached $5 billion, with projected annual revenue reaching $6 million. Although most trading volume does not occur within the official application, we believe this is a wedge opportunity rather than a structural weakness.

What is Zora Doing Now?

Although the ZORA price is still below its post-TGE peak, the product itself has become stronger.

Creator coins have launched and are running well. Any user can mint their own creator coin and bind it to a content coin. These tokens trade based on a bonding curve, priced in ZORA, and can be settled instantly.

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

Content feed and product interface

User engagement is healthy:

· Creators who interact with more than 5 posts have a 30-day retention rate between 11–27% (a16z considers 25% D30 to be an excellent metric for social products).

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

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

Every token transaction involves:

· The creator themselves

· The buyer

· The Zora Labs team

· And ZORA itself

Features like referral invitations, top comments from major holders, and post monetization are gradually building an "attention economy" in the crypto context.

This is a truly consumer-grade product capable of generating protocol revenue.

Zora's distribution problem is gradually being solved.

Now, it has achieved deep integration with Base through an official application called TBD. This application adopts a TikTok-like format, built on the Zora 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: The product flow encourages users to share their creations on external social platforms;

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

· User growth campaigns: Paid promotions on social platforms like TikTok;

· Token incentive distribution: 20% from TGE is used for incentive programs, including trading rewards and diverse incentives related to community development;

· Events and media exposure: Reaching the crypto community and creator groups through podcasts and events;

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

Currently, searching for "Zora" on TikTok yields almost no relevant content. This means that with moderate effort, there is still significant explosive growth potential on social platforms.

On-Chain Data

According to our data tracking on Dune, Zora's current fully diluted valuation is approximately $250 million to $300 million, with historical monthly annualized trading volume reaching as high as $1.8 billion. The current protocol takes about 1% of transaction fees, of which approximately 0.25% goes to Zora Labs. At peak, the protocol's annual revenue approached $18 million.

As of July, Zora's annualized trading volume is about $594 million, with daily active creators numbering only between 4,000 and 7,000. We believe that with its product experience and economic model, Zora is likely to expand its creator base by 10 to 100 times in the next 12 months.

Detailed data can be found on our Dune dashboard: https://dune.com/socialgraphvc/dollarzora

Viewing Zora Labs as R&D Investment

In the crypto industry, there has always been an ongoing debate about whether the "protocol" itself or the team behind it can derive actual value.

We do not speak on behalf of Zora Labs, but based on multiple conversations with their team, we tend to view the revenue Zora Labs receives as essentially R&D expenditure.

The 0.25% fee allocated to Labs from each transaction is not a value extraction but fuel for the following activities:

· Continuously iterating creator tools

· Building the infrastructure needed for user growth

· Driving various experiments within the ecosystem

· Optimizing the overall experience on mobile and web

If Zora Labs can continue to enhance user frequency, create stronger content monetization models, and expand liquidity within the protocol, these outcomes will ultimately reflect in the long-term value of the ZORA token.

Although Zora Labs represents a cost expenditure, it has consistently delivered results.

Will Advertising Be Zora's Moat?

Advertising is one of the most critical and uncertain topics for Zora right now.

Currently, brands have not yet truly engaged in Zora's content coin economy, but this market space is already emerging.

If Zora can create a native advertising system based on its token mechanism, allowing brands to sponsor posts, hold content coins, or directly amplify creators' influence, the entire ecosystem will evolve into a self-reinforcing attention market.

Top comment from the largest holder

Zora creator Balaji's view on the advertising mechanism

We have already seen early forms of this. For example, the largest holders of content coins can now pin comments on relevant posts, which is essentially an early advertising unit. In the future, this mechanism can fully expand into a native brand marketing path for post promotion and event collaboration.

If Zora can truly achieve this, it will not only provide revenue sharing for creators but will also natively channel brand funds into the token system, rather than relying on traditional banner or pop-up ads.

We believe they will ultimately achieve this goal.

Team Background

The team members are an efficient group from Coinbase, continuously pushing innovation in content monetization and focusing on creating unique products that blend crypto-native and Web2 user experiences.

They have propelled the entire industry forward, introducing novel concepts such as bonding curve-based pricing coins, content-driven tokenization, and referral incentive mechanisms. Zora demonstrates a willingness to experiment publicly and iterate quickly, which is a quality we particularly value in teams exploring new social, creator economies, and monetization mechanisms. Key members include:

· Jacob Horne (Co-founder and CEO): Former product manager at Coinbase, responsible for core products like USDC and Coinbase Ventures, focusing on Ethereum and DeFi. He has deep insights into crypto market design, NFTs, and creator economies. He is the core spokesperson for Zora, focusing on the Zora project since 2019 and has also been involved in the crypto fashion space.

· Dee Goens (Co-founder): Former member of Coinbase's marketing team, an important participant in the early wave of NFTs. He built the early community strategy and partnership ecosystem for Zora, long dedicated to empowering underrepresented creator groups.

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

Token Structure

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

The 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 October 23, 2025, over a period of 36 months.

· Treasury (20%): Also linear unlocking starting October 23, over a period of 48 months.

Conclusion

Although ZORA has not yet achieved a price rebound, 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 issuing tokens or speculation; it provides a sustainable monetization path for the entire attention economy through its content minting mechanism.

In the crypto consumer space, we still view it as one of the most certain long-term opportunities.

This article is a submission and does not represent the views of BlockBeats.

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