Zora — the first social network where every post becomes a token

What is Zora?

Zora is a blockchain-based social network that allows content to be tokenized and subsequently treated like regular (fungible) digital assets or FT tokens.

The project was founded back in 2020, and in 2023, the prototype of the Zora Network platform was launched, allowing users to publish content and turn it into ERC-20 tokens (this standard is based on the Ethereum blockchain).

In the two years since its launch, Zora has become one of the most in-demand projects in the crypto industry: as of July 2025, the platform had over 2 million active users, according to internal data.

The Zora platform became so popular that in terms of tokens launched, it surpassed hyped launchpad* platforms on Solana such as Pump.fun and LetsBONK.fun. In just July 2025, the average daily number of tokens created on Zora increased more than 7x — from 6,500 to 50,000. By comparison, LetsBONK.fun had about 22,000 tokens per day, and Pump.fun only ~4,100 in the same period.

*Launchpad — a platform for token launches.

How does Zora work and what are its features?

The Zora social platform operates on Base, a Layer-2 (L2) network developed by crypto giant Coinbase. Zora chose Base for several reasons:

Low costs: transaction fees on Base average under one cent;
High transaction speed: all operations on the L2 Base network complete in seconds;
Compatibility with Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM), simplifying migration of decentralized applications (DApps) to Base;
Support from major crypto players, allowing the project to attract more users and liquidity (confirmed by on-chain data: Base ranks 6th in Total Value Locked (TVL), which as of August 2025 stands at $4.14 billion).

The Zora platform combines features of a social network and a marketplace for trading digital assets. Once published, all user content (posts, images, etc.) is turned into ERC-20 tokens, which can be traded on the marketplace just like any other digital assets.

The Zora project stands out from traditional social platforms, which offer limited monetization options and take most of the profits from creators. Instead, Zora's developers introduced a different model — allowing users to turn their content into monetizable products. Everything published on Zora is recorded on the blockchain and becomes available for trade.

The project team also launched a proprietary Layer-2 network called Zora Network, built on Ethereum's OP Stack — the same foundation used by Base. Zora Network was developed to provide scalability and enough performance for decentralized content publishing without overloading Ethereum's base layer.

Zora token

ZORA is an ERC-20 token launched on the Layer-2 Base blockchain in April 2025. Initially, 3.2 billion ZORA were issued, accounting for 32% of the maximum supply (10 billion).

Of this, 1 billion ZORA tokens were distributed among early ecosystem participants via a free airdrop. A unique aspect of ZORA's airdrop is that there is no expiration date for claiming tokens by eligible active ecosystem users.

ZORA is a utility token used to reward active ecosystem participants, but unlike most tokens in new Web3 projects, it does not include governance (DAO) functionality.

The ZORA token has several functions:

Rewarding creators: original content authors receive a share of the fees from every trade;
Demand support: all token transactions on the platform are made using ZORA;
Native token usage: ZORA is required for all operations on the platform, including minting, trading, and interacting with content;
Loyalty programs to attract new users to Zora;
Liquidity provision for the platform.

In addition to technical utility, ZORA is also considered a "cultural" token, offering users access to the project's global community.

Immediately after launch, ZORA tokens were listed on major centralized exchanges and became accessible to a broad audience. Following the listing, when ZORA reached $0.027, the altcoin's price began to fall, reaching a historical low of $0.0077 by mid-June 2025 — a drop of 3.5x.

This decline happened despite a generally bullish crypto market, with Bitcoin (BTC) hitting a new all-time high (ATH).

Experts attributed ZORA's price drop to a lack of transparency in the initial token distribution, high token concentration in a single large wallet, and mass sell-offs by airdrop recipients.

However, after reaching the historical low, ZORA's price began to recover. In July 2025, the growth accelerated significantly amid a broader altcoin rally. By the end of that month, ZORA reached a new ATH at $0.10.

As of August 2025, ZORA's price stands at $0.067, about 33% below its ATH. The token's market capitalization is $215 million, placing it 190th in the global cryptocurrency ranking.

Zora's outlook

Despite its clear advantages, Zora has several drawbacks. Publishing content on the blockchain requires users to spend their tokens, which means incurring costs that won't be recouped without sales. Another issue noted by experts is audience fragmentation, which limits reach for content creators and ultimately impacts their revenue.

As shown by similar decentralized social platforms like Lens Protocol and Farcaster, Zora currently cannot compete with giants like X (Twitter) — due in part to its complex interface and many users' lack of experience with crypto wallets. However, metrics suggest that such solutions are rapidly gaining popularity and may eventually become serious alternatives to traditional social networks.