The classic security project Horizen relaunches as Layer 3 on Base

Horizen has officially launched its mainnet on Base, marking a significant transition from Layer 1 to Layer 3 following the DAO’s decision to sunset the old blockchain. The project—launched in 2017 under the name ZenCash—has gone through several development phases, from a rebrand in 2018 to the deployment of the EON sidechain in 2023. This relaunch is seen as a governance victory, helping to restore the community and brand.

Horizen aims for a “regulatory-compliant privacy” model with selective disclosure, enabling secure transactions while still meeting oversight requirements. The project is also preparing to launch a Confidential Compute Environment using TEE to support secure financial applications. The new ZEN token is now supported on major exchanges such as Binance, Coinbase, and OKX.

Becoming Layer 3 allows Horizen to focus on middleware and partnerships with infrastructures like Caldera and LayerZero. The long-term goal is to turn Base into a flexible privacy hub for all applications.