BitcoinZK Introduces Governance Framework for Bitcoin Layer-2 with Gate Listing

As the Rollup narrative dominates Ethereum, the Bitcoin Layer2 ecosystem is undergoing significant structural development.

In September 2025, BitcoinZK announced that its native governance token, ZYRA, would be officially listed on Gate. This is not merely a listing event—it is the project’s first constitutional invitation to the market under its vision of a “Bitcoin Constitutional System.”

At this moment, BitcoinZK is seeking to broaden the definition of Bitcoin Layer2 from a scaling solution to a governance-enabled framework that integrates Bitcoin nativity, ZK verification, and institutional governance tools

ZK Rollup × Sovereign Design: ZK as the Only Viable Path for Bitcoin Layer2

As BitcoinZK CMO Brian Lau noted, Bitcoin’s scripting system cannot natively support smart contract–based Rollup verification. This means all L2 scaling designs inevitably introduce trust assumptions.

BitcoinZK’s core design proposes “100% ZK proof generation × 100% public verification”:

• All user actions and L1–L2 cross-chain activities are validated by ZK-SNARKs to guarantee their correctness
• The verification process is fully open and can be audited by any third party

With foundational support from zkBridge and Threshold Network, BitcoinZK brings BTC assets into the EVM environment, enabling a fusion of BTC Gas and EVM smart contracts, laying the groundwork for programmable Bitcoin in DeFi and asset issuance.

ZYRA: Not a Gas Token, but a “Digital Constitution”

Unlike many “utility tokens,” ZYRA is not designed for payments—it exists for governance.

According to the official governance model:

• ZYRA grants holders the rights to propose, vote, allocate treasury, and select Sequencers
• Governance is executed entirely on-chain, with voting outcomes automatically triggered by smart contracts
• The total supply is 1 billion tokens, with 50% distributed via device mining, and 80% of cross-chain fees and Gas charges allocated to buyback and burn

Therefore, ZYRA functions primarily as a governance credential within Bitcoin Layer2—focused on decision-making and treasury allocation, rather than payments.

Gate Listing: Token as Institution, Market as Consensus

The listing of ZYRA on Gate marks the first direct connection between the BitcoinZK ecosystem and mainstream markets. Prior to this, ZYRA’s narrative lived primarily within developer communities, technical whitepapers, and offline scenes across Asian markets.

This collision between a “sovereign governance token” and a speculative marketplace will serve as a stress test—and may become the inflection point where the narrative gains broader acceptance.

CMO Brian Lau emphasized that the listing is intended as the starting point for global community governance—not the end. Following this, the ecosystem will expand into more on-chain governance experiments, DeFi construction, and RWA bridging mechanisms centered around ZYRA.

Beyond Layer2: A Governance Testbed

BitcoinZK’s global strategy has long evolved beyond technical development into scenario-driven collaboration:

• Strategic partnerships with infrastructure leaders such as Crust Network, Protocol Labs, and ARO Network
• Community building, technical evangelism, and offline hackathons launched in cities like Hong Kong, Seoul, and Dubai

The Gate listing of ZYRA is merely the beginning of the constitutional system. BitcoinZK’s medium- to long-term roadmap includes:

• Introducing ZK verification to RWA scenarios—enhancing asset cleanliness, bridge integrity, and privacy
• Launching incentive models for on-chain governance, enabling “code-driven execution of consensus outcomes”
• Expanding zkBridge’s external verifiability to become the foundational bridge layer from BTC to global DeFi

A Real-World Experiment in Next-Generation Bitcoin Governance

If Ethereum’s Layer2 is built for performance, then BitcoinZK’s Layer2 is about reconstructing a full institutional framework:

• Verification logic (ZK)
• Execution pathway (EVM)
• Governance model (ZYRA)

Within this architecture, ZYRA is not just a listed token—it is a vote-bearing governance credential, a publicly priced institutional atomic unit.

BitcoinZK is attempting to answer a single question:

Whether introducing a governance system can enable Bitcoin Layer2 to become more programmable, governable, and verifiable?

The Gate listing simply marks the moment this question began to be asked by the global market.