HORIZEN × THRIVE · BUILDER FUND
Private onchain finance
is built on Horizen.
Horizen is an ecosystem for privacy-forward onchain applications
— built on Base, EVM-native, with privacy at the app layer.
Season 2 funds the builders who meet core ecosystem needs, bring proven products to a new home, and ship privacy as a working feature.
Preview the application (PDF | Google Doc)
What we're funding
Protocols & apps with
real privacy and demand.
Every application is judged on the same core questions — is there genuine demand for what you're building, how is privacy meaningful, and can your team ship it?
We favor teams that implement Vela if using a TEE architecture (trusted execution environment) and zkVerify if using zero-knowledge proofs, though this is not a hard requirement.
Known ecosystem needs
By RFP: private agentic trading vaults and a private borrow-lend protocol — plus any comparably critical piece you can make the case for.
- Strong in-house privacy engineering capability required
- Funding tranched against privacy build-out and mainnet results
- Direct coordination with the Foundation and other core app teams building on Horizen
Privacy-forward finance apps & migrating projects
Onchain financial applications just outside the core cluster, and proven products migrating to Horizen with privacy as their new differentiator.
- Hands-on DevRel engineering support available (limited slots)
- Ideal for teams with a working product and users
- Teams that can demonstrate real market opportunity
Interesting or valuable projects we shouldn't miss
Smaller projects, public goods, genuine wildcards, and focused support like security-audit funding and GTM backing for products with a demonstrated growth engine.
- Stand-out ideas worthy of attention
- Projects that bring unique capabilities to the entire network
- Small bets for the most promising founders
What's different in Season 2
Season 1 aimed wide.
Season 2 adds focus.
Season 1 bootstrapped the ecosystem and helped it take shape. Season 2 reflects a refined strategy for targeted apps and a funding structure that better reflects the operating needs of teams building onchain privacy.
Your Application
One application.
Pick the path that fits.
RFP response
A known ecosystem need
You're applying to build one of the projects Horizen has explicitly asked for — starting with agentic trading vaults and borrow–lend. View the RFPs.
We'll ask: how well does your approach fit the stated need, and can your team execute it end to end? How will it be maintained long-term?
Migrator
Bring a proven product home
You've already built something real on another chain — ideally with users — and Horizen is the place it gains privacy features, a coordinated ecosystem, and momentum.
We'll ask: what's held the project back where it is, and is that a blocker Horizen removes?
Wildcard
Give us your pitch
Have a new privacy-forward build outside the requested list? The bar is higher on evidence, but the wildcard lane exists precisely for you.
We'll ask: who actually wants this — and what evidence of real demand can you show, beyond the idea sounding good?
Milestones & funding payouts
Get paid as you ship,
tailored to your build.
The default framework below is a starting point — teams may propose alternative structures, with deadlines proposed by you and agreed upon by Horizen and Thrive. Privacy development is genuinely more complex and slower than standard EVM work, and the framework is built around that reality.
Prove the hard part
A meaningful technical milestone rooted in your core privacy capability. Demonstrate early that your team can do the difficult thing your project depends on.
Pass a security audit
A completed audit by a Foundation-approved auditor, with a split payout designed to help smooth the auditing workflow — 50% pre-audit, 50% on passing.
Show real mainnet usage
In-market metrics matched to your app type — examples including unique users, transaction volume, TVL, utilization rates, etc. Specifics agreed together.
How it works
From application
to mainnet.
Apply
One intake. Tell us about your project — including the market you serve, your development and go-to-market plan, and the reasoning behind it all.
Review & diligence
The review team digs into demand, team capability, and fit. A realistic, well-reasoned plan is itself a strong signal. Expect direct questions.
Agree to terms
Milestones, deadlines, payout structure, and staking program participation are negotiated and agreements signed. Founder KYC required.
Build & get paid
10% unlocks at approval. The rest follows your milestones — in USDC, at the amounts you agreed to.
Why build here
We prioritize privacy
as a working feature,
not as research.
TEE · Confidential compute
Vela
Vela is Horizen Labs' TEE-based confidential execution solution. Application logic runs inside a Trusted Execution Environment, where data stays encrypted in memory and every computation emits a cryptographic attestation — connecting onchain data to offchain confidential execution for EVM contracts. Multi-chain, and currently in closed beta.
Read the docs →ZK · Proof verification
zkVerify
zkVerify is a high-performance, decentralized protocol dedicated to zero-knowledge proof verification, giving ZK apps a modular, composable way to verify proofs. Offloading verification from Ethereum sharply lowers per-proof gas costs and stabilizes them against gas volatility — and it natively verifies proof systems like STARKs that are impractical to verify on the EVM.
Read the docs →
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Long-term alignment
Funding is the start.
It's not the end goal.
Contribute to the ZEN staking rewards pool
Most funded projects participate as contributors to the ZEN staking program — a share of protocol fees or revenue, a portion of native-token distribution, or another arrangement that fits your project's shape.
Carve-outs exist for public goods and other cases where a staking contribution genuinely doesn't fit.
Why it works in your favor
ZEN staking is the alignment rail for Horizen's most committed long-term holders. Contributing projects plug directly into that core community — the users most likely to try, use, and champion what you ship.
The application asks about your plan for long-term Horizen alignment. We're most interested in teams who plant roots here.
FAQ