Swarm (BZZ) is the native token of Swarm Network, a decentralized storage and communication system for a censorship-resistant and sovereign internet, providing distributed storage, bandwidth, and messaging services as an alternative to centralized cloud storage. Founded in 2016 by the
Ethereum Foundation and later spun out as a separate project, Swarm uses a proof-of-storage model where nodes earn BZZ by providing storage and bandwidth, with incentives for data availability and retrieval. The BZZ token powers payments for storage and bandwidth,
staking for
node operation and rewards, governance voting in the Swarm DAO, and incentives for content pinning and network maintenance in a decentralized storage layer secured by audited contracts and focused on privacy, resilience, and data sovereignty.
When Did Swarm Launch?
Swarm was founded in 2016 and launched its mainnet and BZZ token in 2021 after years of development and testnets. The project expanded with Bee client improvements in 2022–2023, and achieved 2025 milestones including enhanced storage incentives, cross-chain integrations, and
DAO governance activation, maintaining active node network and storage usage by December 2025.
What Are the Key Features of Swarm?
Swarm features decentralized storage and communication with proof-of-storage incentives, bandwidth and pinning services, staking for node rewards, governance through BZZ voting, audited security, privacy-focused architecture, and tools for censorship-resistant data hosting, messaging, and content distribution in a sovereign internet infrastructure.
What Is BZZ Used For?
BZZ is used for paying for storage and bandwidth services, staking to operate nodes and earn rewards, voting in Swarm DAO governance on upgrades and treasury, providing liquidity for yields, and accessing ecosystem incentives for node operators and content creators.
What Is the BZZ Token Utility?
BZZ covers payments for storage and bandwidth, secures node operation through staking and reward distribution, powers governance voting on protocol parameters and treasury, captures value from network usage allocated to stakers, incentivizes storage providers, and funds ecosystem growth through treasury allocations for development and privacy initiatives.
What Blockchain Does Swarm Operate On?
Swarm operates on its own sovereign
Layer-1 blockchain with Ethereum compatibility and cross-chain support.
What Are BZZ Tokenomics?
BZZ has a capped supply with circulation from unlocks as of December 2025. Allocation: staking rewards, storage incentives, team vested, treasury; deflationary via fee burns.