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What is 0x?

0x is an open-source protocol that powers the peer-to-peer exchange of Ethereum-based assets, acting as foundational infrastructure for decentralized exchanges and DeFi applications. It was co-founded in 2016 by Will Warren and Amir Bandeali, who met at a blockchain hackathon and saw an opportunity to standardize token trading on Ethereum. The project is developed by 0x Labs, headquartered in San Francisco, and has received backing from investors including Polychain Capital, Pantera Capital, Blockchain Capital.

0x completed its initial coin offering in August 2017, raising roughly $24 million in ETH and distributing the ZRX governance token to early supporters. Today, 0x is one of the longest-operating DeFi primitives still in active development. The protocol has undergone multiple major upgrades — from v1 and v2 to the current Exchange Proxy architecture and the 0x Protocol v4, which introduced gas-optimized limit orders, RFQ (request-for-quote) liquidity, and native support for Layer 2 networks.

Through the 0x API and the consumer-facing Matcha aggregator, the protocol routes orders across Uniswap, Curve, Balancer, SushiSwap, and dozens of other liquidity venues to deliver best-execution pricing. 0x has been integrated by a long list of household-name wallets and exchanges, including MetaMask (through its Swaps feature historically powered by 0x), Robinhood Wallet, Brave Wallet, Polygon, Zapper, Zerion, Shapeshift, and Matcha.

On the NFT side, the ZeroEx v4 NFT swap contracts underpin trading on OpenSea's Seaport predecessor Wyvern-alternative integrations and many smaller marketplaces. Cumulative trading volume settled through 0x has exceeded $250 billion across tens of millions of trades, making it one of the most battle-tested smart-contract systems in the industry. The ZRX token was originally designed for protocol governance and liquidity provider staking, allowing holders to vote on proposals through ZEIPs (0x Improvement Proposals) and to delegate stake to market makers that receive a share of protocol fees.

In 2021, 0x Labs raised a $70 million Series B led by Greylock Partners, with participation from Pantera, Sound Ventures, Jump Capital, and others, to expand multi-chain support and grow the API business. The protocol is now live on Ethereum, Polygon, BNB Chain, Optimism, Arbitrum, Base, Avalanche, Fantom, and Celo, positioning itself as a chain-agnostic liquidity layer rather than an Ethereum-only application.

Controversy has been limited, though the team faced community debate in 2018–2019 over staking mechanics and fee distribution, and more recently over the relative prominence of the token versus the 0x API business, which generates revenue independently through swap fees on integrator transactions. Despite a competitive DEX aggregator landscape — including 1inch, Paraswap, CowSwap, and Kyber — 0x continues to hold meaningful market share thanks to deep enterprise integrations and its developer-first reputation.

For traders, ZRX remains a mid-cap liquid asset available on most major centralized exchanges, while for builders, 0x remains one of the fastest ways to bolt professional-grade swap functionality into any crypto product.

Key Features of 0x

• Hybrid Order Architecture: 0x uses off-chain order relay combined with on-chain settlement, letting market makers broadcast signed orders without paying gas until a trade is actually filled. This drastically reduces costs and latency compared to fully on-chain order books while preserving non-custodial, trustless settlement.
• Multi-Chain Liquidity Aggregation: The 0x API sources prices from more than 100 liquidity venues across Ethereum, Polygon, Arbitrum, Optimism, Base, BNB Chain, Avalanche, and more. Smart order routing automatically splits trades across venues to minimize slippage and deliver best execution for any token pair.
• RFQ Professional Market Making: 0x's Request-for-Quote system lets professional market makers stream private, gas-free quotes directly to integrators, similar to traditional OTC desks. This produces tighter spreads on large trades and protects users from MEV and sandwich attacks common in public mempools.
• NFT Swap Contracts: The ERC-721 and ERC-1155 order types built into 0x v4 enable atomic, gas-efficient NFT trading, including bundle sales and collection offers. Marketplaces can integrate these contracts to offer advanced trading without reinventing settlement logic.
• ZRX Governance and Staking: ZRX holders govern protocol parameters through ZEIPs and can delegate tokens to market-maker pools to earn a share of protocol fees. This aligns long-term incentives between liquidity providers, developers, and token holders.

0x Use Cases

• Powering Wallet Swap Features: Major wallets like Brave Wallet and Robinhood Wallet rely on the 0x API to provide in-app token swaps. Users get aggregated pricing across dozens of DEXs without leaving their wallet interface.
• DEX Aggregation via Matcha: Matcha.xyz, 0x's consumer-facing aggregator, lets retail traders access best-price swaps across every major Ethereum DEX in one interface. It supports limit orders, RFQ pricing, and cross-chain trading with transparent fee disclosure.
• NFT Marketplace Infrastructure: NFT platforms use 0x's v4 swap contracts to enable secure, atomic trading of ERC-721 and ERC-1155 assets. This powers features like collection bids, trait-based offers, and bundled listings without custom contract development.
• DeFi Protocol Integrations: DeFi protocols including yield optimizers, portfolio managers like Zapper and Zerion, and lending platforms embed the 0x API to rebalance portfolios and route liquidations. This provides reliable on-chain execution without building a custom routing engine.
• Institutional OTC Settlement: Funds and treasuries use 0x's limit-order and RFQ features to execute large trades with minimal market impact. Signed off-chain orders allow OTC-style negotiation while settling trustlessly on-chain.

0x Tokenomics

Total Supply

ZRX has a fixed maximum supply of 1,000,000,000 (1 billion) tokens, set at the 2017 genesis event with no inflation mechanism. No additional ZRX will ever be minted beyond this cap.

Circulating

Roughly 85% of the total supply is in circulation, with the remainder historically allocated to the 0x team, advisors, the 0x ecosystem development fund, and the founding organization under multi-year vesting schedules that have now largely completed.

Utility

ZRX serves two primary functions: governance voting on ZEIPs that upgrade the protocol, and staking by market makers (or delegators) into liquidity pools to earn a share of protocol fees generated by taker orders. The token is not required to use the 0x API as an end user but is central to protocol-level coordination.

Emission

There is no ongoing emission or mining. All ZRX was created at launch and distributed through the 2017 ICO, team/advisor allocations, and ecosystem grants, meaning supply growth is effectively zero and any increase in circulating supply comes solely from unlocking previously vested allocations.

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