What is Zilliqa?

Zilliqa (ZIL) is a smart contract platform aimed at alleviating the scalability limitations encountered in other blockchains. Its sharded architecture design enables concurrent chains to perform transactions in parallel, allowing the network to process thousands of transactions per second (tps) and boosting the network's overall capacity. It is the first public blockchain to have implemented sharding on its mainnet.

In addition to scalability, Zilliqa includes a layer to facilitate smart contract generation using its native programming language, Scilla (short for smart contract intermediate-level language). The network uses a hybrid Proof of Work (PoW)/Practical Byzantine Fault Tolerance (PBFT) mechanism to achieve consensus on transactions and contract executions.

ZIL is the native utility token for the Zilliqa blockchain.

A brief history of Zilliqa

Prateek Saxena, then an assistant professor at the National University of Singapore School of Computing, first conceived of Zilliqa in 2016 while working with several students and publishing a paper on how a sharding-focused blockchain could improve network efficiency and speed. Along with Xinshu Don and Amrit Kumar, Saxena created Zilliqa Research, which became the Zilliqa network, in 2017, only a few months before the team released its first testnet.

Zilliqa puts sharding theory into reality with a protocol that attempts to overcome scalability limitations in existing blockchains. The team's major aim in developing this solution was to establish a platform capable of processing smart contracts at scale without jeopardising key blockchain principles, such as node management decentralisation.

Between December 2017 and January 2018, Zilliqa held a public token sale on the Ethereum network. Participants in the sale were given ERC-20 ‘“Zillings’” — or ZILs. The project originally expected to fund up to US$20 million. However, the limit was raised to a hard ceiling of US$22 million because of the growth in ETH prices.

The plan is to use 80% of the allotment received for research, development, and operations over the first three to four years, with 15% awarded to Anquan Capital Pte. Ltd., which developed the core technology behind the scalable blockchain; and the remaining 5% going to the founding team.

How Zilliqa works

Zilliqa employs a modified version of the PoW consensus protocol to organise and verify transactions and give security guarantees for completed transactions. According to the researchers, this updated consensus model gives a more cost-effective form of mining compared to other networks on the market.

Zilliqa’s smart contract layer includes a proprietary programming language called Scilla, enabling developers to easily write and express smart contract conditions. This infrastructure is utilised to construct both pilot and commercial applications in the fields of security token offerings, gaming, domain registry services, financial services, and payment reconciliation in advertising.

What is Zilliqa used for?

Zilliqa was designed with scalability in mind, using a one-of-a-kind consensus mechanism with complex sharding protocols to handle thousands of transactions per second. By partitioning the network into smaller units, a process known as sharding, transactions are processed in parallel, accomplishing speedier transaction clearance. As a result, the platform can scale to match the size of its network.

Because the network is decentralised, users have access to a censorship-resistant platform for conducting transactions. Because of the platform's design, it can manage both huge international value transfers and micro transactions, which enable developers to design more complex applications. Consumers can make everyday transactions without paying high fees.

Another critical issue that many blockchains are facing is energy consumption. PoW blockchains need a significant amount of processing power. Blockchains, such as Bitcoin, are already using more energy than whole nations. Zilliqa was designed to address these problems by using the PBFT consensus mechanism.