Zeitgeist

Zeitgeist is a decentralized Layer-1 blockchain and prediction markets protocol built on Substrate, the same blockchain framework that powers Polkadot and its parachain ecosystem. It is specifically engineered to support prediction markets and futarchy-based governance, enabling participants to create, trade, and resolve on-chain markets about future events across virtually any domain — from crypto price movements to politics, sports, and beyond.

At its core, Zeitgeist differs from general-purpose smart contract platforms by being optimized for prediction market logic — meaning the network’s runtime and tooling are tuned for high throughput and efficient handling of frequent markets, liquidity pools, token minting, dispute resolution, and oracle reporting. The project originally started with testnet phases and is now migrating into full operation as a parachain within the Polkadot ecosystem, benefiting from interoperability, shared security, and cross-chain messaging.

The native token ZTG is pivotal to the ecosystem: it’s used as collateral and base asset for market trading, staking for dispute resolution (including the decentralized court), bonding for market creation, governance participation, and gas for network transactions. ZTG holders can influence the direction of the protocol, such as proposing or voting on upgrades and policy changes, while community governance incorporates novel mechanisms like futarchy, where prediction markets help determine optimal decisions by aggregating forecasts.

Zeitgeist’s architecture supports permissionless market creation (anyone with ZTG can propose a market by posting a bond), liquidity-based trading, and decentralized dispute resolution via a court mechanism where jurors stake ZTG to uphold truthful outcomes. The system is designed to be censorship-resistant, community controlled, and transparent — with smart contracts governing each prediction market and on-chain logic ensuring final settlement based on oracle or community-verified outcomes.