🇸🇦 العربية 🇩🇪 Deutsch 🇬🇷 Ελληνικά 🇺🇸 English 🇪🇸 Español 🇫🇮 Suomi 🇫🇷 Français 🇮🇳 हिन्दी 🇮🇹 Italiano 🇯🇵 日本語 🇰🇷 한국어 🇳🇱 Nederlands 🇳🇴 Norsk 🇵🇱 Polski 🇧🇷 Português 🇷🇺 Русский 🇸🇪 Svenska 🇵🇭 Filipino 🇹🇷 Türkçe 🇻🇳 Tiếng Việt 🇨🇳 中文

What Is Zilliqa?

Zilliqa (ZIL) is a blockchain platform that was the first to implement sharding as a scaling solution on a public mainnet. The project originated from academic research at the National University of Singapore (NUS), where computer scientist Prateek Saxena and his team published a 2015 paper proposing sharding as a way to scale blockchain throughput. Amrit Kumar served as president and head of research, and the team included PhDs from institutions including Princeton, Berkeley, and Inria. Zilliqa Research, the academic institution behind the protocol, conducted years of development before the project raised $22 million in a token sale and launched its mainnet in 2019. The core insight was straightforward: by dividing the network into smaller groups of nodes called shards that process transactions in parallel, throughput can increase linearly as more nodes join the network. In testing, Zilliqa achieved 2,828 transactions per second on its testnet -- roughly a thousand times the throughput of Ethereum at the time.

Zilliqa uses a hybrid consensus mechanism that combines Proof of Work with practical Byzantine Fault Tolerance (pBFT). Unlike Bitcoin or Ethereum's original design, PoW in Zilliqa is not used to validate every block. Instead, it serves as a Sybil resistance mechanism: miners perform PoW periodically to establish their identity and receive assignment to a shard. A Directory Service (DS) committee coordinates shard membership and manages cross-shard transactions. Within each shard, nodes reach consensus on transactions using pBFT, which is fast and energy-efficient. Because PoW runs only at intervals rather than continuously, Zilliqa's energy consumption is estimated at roughly one-tenth that of a comparable Ethereum PoW node.

The platform features its own smart contract language called Scilla (Smart Contract Intermediate-Level Language), designed from the ground up with formal verification in mind. Scilla separates computation from communication in contracts, making it possible to mathematically prove certain safety properties -- such as the absence of reentrancy vulnerabilities like the one that caused the 2016 DAO hack on Ethereum -- before a contract is deployed. This focus on provable security addresses one of the most costly sources of losses in the cryptocurrency space.

Zilliqa has been pursuing a major upgrade known as Zilliqa 2.0, which introduces Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) compatibility, improved cross-chain interoperability through x-Bridge, and a new consensus mechanism. EVM compatibility allows Ethereum dApps and developer tools like MetaMask and Hardhat to work on Zilliqa with minimal modifications, significantly expanding the developer ecosystem. The project has also expanded into gaming and metaverse applications through Metapolis, a metaverse-as-a-service platform, and established Zilliqa Capital as a venture arm to fund ecosystem development. DeFi activity on the network includes ZilSwap, a native decentralized exchange, and Pillar Protocol for stablecoin lending.

Getting Started With Zilliqa

  1. Step 1: Learn About Zilliqa. Visit zilliqa.com to understand the platform's sharding technology, smart contract capabilities, and the Zilliqa 2.0 roadmap.
  2. Step 2: Set Up a Wallet. Download the ZilPay browser extension or use the Torch Wallet mobile app to create a Zilliqa address. These wallets allow you to hold ZIL, interact with dApps, and stake your tokens.
  3. Step 3: Acquire ZIL. Purchase ZIL on a supported exchange and transfer to your wallet. ZIL is needed for transaction fees, staking, and interacting with smart contracts on the Zilliqa network.
  4. Step 4: Stake and Participate. Stake your ZIL tokens through the staking portal to earn rewards while contributing to network security. Explore the Zilliqa ecosystem including DeFi protocols, NFT marketplaces, and metaverse projects.

How to Get a Zilliqa Wallet?

ZilPay

ZilPay is a browser extension wallet for Zilliqa, similar to MetaMask for Ethereum. It supports ZIL and all ZRC-2 tokens, and allows you to interact with Zilliqa dApps directly from your browser.

Torch Wallet

Torch Wallet is a mobile wallet for the Zilliqa ecosystem, available on iOS and Android. It provides a user-friendly interface for managing ZIL, staking, and accessing Zilliqa-based applications.

Ledger Hardware Wallet

ZIL is supported on Ledger hardware wallets through the Zilliqa Ledger app. You can connect your Ledger to ZilPay for secure dApp interaction while keeping your private keys offline.

Zilliqa Resources

How to Buy Zilliqa?

ZIL can be purchased on major centralized exchanges including Binance, Coinbase, and Crypto.com. Create an account, complete identity verification, deposit funds, and trade for ZIL using available trading pairs. Once purchased, withdraw your ZIL to a personal wallet like ZilPay for security and to participate in staking and the Zilliqa DeFi ecosystem.

For decentralized options, ZIL can be traded on ZilSwap, the primary Zilliqa-native DEX that supports ZRC-2 token swaps. Wrapped versions of ZIL are also available on Ethereum DEXs like Uniswap for users who prefer cross-chain access. Staking ZIL through the official staking portal is another way to accumulate tokens while contributing to network security.

Latest Zilliqa News

Zilliqa is focused on the development and rollout of Zilliqa 2.0, the most significant upgrade in the platform's history. The upgrade introduces full EVM compatibility, allowing the vast Ethereum developer ecosystem and its tooling to work on Zilliqa with minimal friction. A new consensus mechanism and cross-chain features through x-Bridge are also part of the roadmap. The Zilliqa team has expanded into gaming and metaverse applications through Metapolis, with several projects building on the platform to leverage its high throughput and low transaction costs. Zilliqa Capital continues to invest in ecosystem growth, funding projects that build on the network's sharding architecture.