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The $ZERO Token

$ZERO is the token at the center of the Compute Network economy. You don't need it to use Compute Network — inference is paid for in USDC — but $ZERO is how the value the network creates flows back to the people who hold and stake it.

What $ZERO is (and isn't)​

$ZERO is not a credit you spend on AI directly. Credits are bought with USDC (a dollar buys 500), and credits are what pay for inference. $ZERO is a separate, value-accrual token. As the network earns, it automatically buys $ZERO back and burns it, and it pays a share of revenue to everyone who stakes — and staking it also grants a daily allowance of free credits (see Staking).

  • Use Compute Network → pay in USDC
  • Hold $ZERO → benefit from buybacks and burns as the network grows
  • Stake $ZERO → earn a share of network revenue in USDC and get a daily free-credit allowance

Where the money comes from​

Two revenue streams feed a single treasury:

  • Compute margin — every paid job costs credits. The worker keeps 70% of that value; the remaining 30% is the network's margin. 100% of that margin goes into the treasury.
  • Trading fees — $ZERO trades generate fees. 35% of those fees go into the treasury (the rest covers operating costs).

What the treasury does​

The treasury splits in half, automatically, once a day:

  • 50% — Buyback & burn. The protocol buys $ZERO on the open market and permanently burns it. Circulating supply shrinks as usage grows.
  • 50% — Staker rewards. Paid out to everyone staking $ZERO, in USDC.

You can watch both happen live on the treasury page.

Staking​

Staking $ZERO turns holding into recurring value — a single stake earns a share of the treasury in USDC, grants a daily allowance of free credits, and (if you run a worker) a bigger cut on every job. Each deposit ages 24h before it counts.

See the Staking page for the full breakdown, and set it up on the staking page.

Credits, in one line​

Inference is paid with credits. A credit is $0.001, and a dollar buys 500 of them with USDC. Text is billed per token, so a typical message costs about a credit. Bought credits never expire and are refunded automatically if a job fails. Daily credits from a plan are different: they reset every day and do not carry over. See Getting started.

The loop​

  1. People use Compute Network and pay in USDC; $ZERO trades generate fees.
  2. Network revenue collects in the treasury.
  3. Half buys back and burns $ZERO — supply shrinks.
  4. Half pays everyone staking $ZERO, in USDC.
  5. More usage → more buybacks and bigger staker rewards. The token captures the network's growth.