⚙️ Relay Architecture

Zor is powered by relays — small, community-run nodes that forward encrypted traffic across the network. But not all relays are the same. To balance openness with reliability, Zor introduces a two-tier system:

🪶 Unbonded Relays

Anyone can run one. No registration, no permission required. Unbonded relays earn ZEC for verified forwarding, but if they drop traffic, they simply don’t get paid. They form the backbone of Zor’s decentralization — massive, diverse, and censorship-resistant.

💎 Bonded Relays

For higher performance and reliability, relays can post a shielded ZEC bond. This bond acts as a guarantee of uptime and honesty. Bonded relays get routing priority and higher earning weight, but can be slashed if they submit false proofs or fail repeatedly. The bond can be reclaimed after seven days of clean performance, but you will lose your status.

Together, these two layers form a network that’s open to everyone, but accountable to no one. Unbonded nodes provide chaos and freedom; bonded nodes provide trust and speed.

The result is a global bandwidth market where honesty earns, failure costs, and attackers pay for their own noise.