🔒 How Zor Works

At its core, Zor combines three ideas — mixnets, zero-knowledge proofs, and shielded payments — to create a network that protects both your privacy and your trust in the system.

🧅 1. Mixnet Routing

Every packet you send is wrapped in multiple layers of encryption and passed through 3–20 randomly chosen relays. Each relay peels one layer and forwards the message without knowing its origin or destination. If any hop fails, the network automatically reroutes through encrypted “recovery capsules,” keeping the connection alive without revealing anything about its path.

🔐 2. Proof-of-Forwarding

Unlike Tor or VPNs, Zor doesn’t rely on trust. Each relay produces a zk-proof inside a TEE vault, verifying that it correctly processed packets without reading or altering them. These proofs are aggregated and verified off-chain, ensuring fairness and accountability. No proof → no payment.

💰 3. Shielded ZEC Payments

All payments happen privately through Zcash’s shielded pool. Users deposit small balances into the vault, and relays are rewarded with ZEC only after verified forwarding. Every transaction is unlinkable, but still auditable through zk-proofs of work.

🔑 4. ZCert Encryption

Apps and services on Zor use ZCerts — hardware-attested keys that prove authenticity without relying on centralized certificate authorities. It’s TLS, but without Big Tech — a verified identity layer for the next web.