How It Works

The Zama Protocol uses Delegated Proof-of-Stake. Users and participants can delegate their $ZAMA to the operators who are running the infrastructure.

There are 18 active operators: 13 KMS (Key Management Service) nodes and 5 FHE (Fully Homomorphic Encryption) Coprocessors. 

Staking Rewards

Rewards come from protocol inflation, set at 5% (initially) of total $ZAMA supply per year:

• 60% goes to KMS operators and their delegators
• 40% goes to Coprocessor operators and their delegators

Rewards are distributed based on the square root of each operator's total stake. This means delegating to smaller operators generates higher returns per stake than delegating to large ones, incentivizing decentralization.

Operators take a commission (capped at 20%) before passing rewards to delegators. The rest is split proportionally among delegators.

How to Stake

1. Go to staking.zama.org
2. Choose an operator
3. Approve your $ZAMA to their staking contract
4. Call the delegation function

You'll receive liquid staking shares (unique per operator) that represent your position.

Unstaking

Unstaking has a 7-day unbonding period. Alternatively, you can transfer or sell your liquid staking shares without waiting.

The Genesis Operators

FHE Coprocessors: Artifact, Blockscape, Luganodes, P2P, Zama

KMS Nodes: Conduit, DFNS, Etherscan, Figment, Fireblocks, InfStones, LayerZero, Ledger, Omakase, OpenZeppelin, Stake Capital, Unit 410, Zama

Becoming an Operator

Future operators must first prove reliability on testnet, then stake at least 0.5% of circulating $ZAMA. Every epoch (~3 months), top operators by stake are selected.

If you are interested in becoming an operator for the Zama protocol, you can reach out to us at: hello@zama.org

Governance

Protocol updates require majority operator approval. Governance proposals are managed through Aragon. For a detailed explanation of the governance structure, refer to the governance documentation.

Additional Links

• Zama staking portal
• Zama staking documentation
• Zama on X and Telegram