Zilliqa Price

What is Zilliqa (ZIL)?

Zilliqa (ZIL) is a blockchain platform that uses a unique consensus mechanism called sharding that allows it to process multiple transactions simultaneously. It also features a non-fungible token (NFT) marketplace called ZilSwap.

ZIL is the blockchain’s native cryptocurrency, and it’s used to pay transaction fees and to access decentralized applications (dApps) built on it.

Who are the founders of Zilliqa?

Zilliqa was founded in 2017 by a team of computer scientists and researchers from the National University of Singapore (NUS). 

The founders are Prateek Saxena, an NUS assistant professor, and his business partners Max Kantelia and Juzar Motiwalla.

They were later joined by three former NUS research fellows: Xinshu Dong, who became the network’s CEO; Yaoqi Jia, who took on the position of chief technology officer (CTO); and Amrit Kumar, who became Zilliqa’s chief scientific officer (CSO).

History of Zilliqa

Zilliqa’s main goal was to address the scalability issues plaguing legacy blockchains like Bitcoin and Ethereum. It did so via a unique blockchain architecture called sharding, which divides the network into smaller groups of nodes called shards.

The project held an initial coin offering (ICO) of its native ZIL token in December 2017, raising over $22 million to fund research and development.

Zilliqa’s mainnet went live two years later, in January 2019. The same year, a research paper for Zilliqa’s proprietary programming language, Scilla, was accepted at the OOPSLA conference in Athens, Greece, becoming the first peer-reviewed smart contract language to enter a production platform.

In 2021, Zilliqa announced it would be transitioning to a new blockchain, Zilliqa 2.0, which would incorporate further improvements to its sharding mechanism and enhance its capabilities in areas such as smart contract execution.

Zilliqa has attracted various partners and projects from different sectors, including gaming, entertainment, social media, finance and education. Some notable examples are Unstoppable Domains, which offers blockchain-based domain names; Xacademy, a YouTube plugin that rewards content creators and viewers with crypto; and a stablecoin platform, Pillar Protocol.

What makes Zilliqa unique?

One of Zilliqa’s most noteworthy features is its sharding technology, which allows for fast throughput and a high rate of transactions per second (TPS).

Additionally, Zilliqa uses a hybrid consensus process that combines proof-of-work (PoW) with practical byzantine fault tolerance (PBFT) to ensure its network is safe and impervious to attacks.

Zilliqa is also more ecologically friendly than Bitcoin and other PoW networks since its hybrid consensus process uses less energy than the classic PoW.

How does Zilliqa work?

Zilliqa uses sharding to divide its network into smaller groups of nodes capable of independently processing transactions.

It employs a combination of PBFT and PoW, where the network randomly selects a group of nodes called a ‘shard committee’ to validate transactions and reach a consensus.

The network’s sharding architecture allows it to scale linearly with the number of nodes, meaning that new shards can be added as the network grows.

Zilliqa also supports the execution of smart contracts using Scilla, a domain-specific language designed to enhance security and enable the formal verification of smart contracts, thereby reducing the risk of bugs and vulnerabilities.

The platform’s native token, ZIL, powers all functions within its ecosystem, including settling transaction fees, accessing resources and participating in decision-making.

Zilliqa’s sharding mechanism

Zilliqa’s sharding mechanism is based on network sharding, where the network is divided into multiple shards capable of processing a subset of its total transaction load.

Initially, Zilliqa starts with a few shards, but as the network grows, it creates more shards to cover the increased transaction load.

Each shard runs independently, utilizing PBFT to agree on the order and validity of transactions within it.

When a transaction is initiated, it’s assigned to a specific shard. However, if the transaction involves multiple shards, Zilliqa initiates cross-shard communication using a directory service (DS) committee, which maintains a global network view and helps route transactions across shards.

How do network consensus and validation work on Zilliqa?

Zilliqa uses a hybrid consensus mechanism consisting of PoW and PBFT protocols. The system ensures a fair distribution of nodes and prevents Sybil attacks.

The main chain coordinates shard creation in response to increased transactional load. Each shard operates autonomously and elects a DS committee to lead it. The DS committee rotates periodically to distribute power and ensure decentralization.

In Zilliqa, each shard autonomously generates blocks proposed by the leader of the DS committee. The proposed block is then verified and validated by other committee members through voting. If the members agree on the block’s validity, it’s considered finalized.

These finalized blocks are then added to the blockchain and cannot be modified, thus ensuring immutability.

How is the Zilliqa network secured?

Zilliqa’s security is built around the PBFT mechanism, which ensures the network can withstand several faulty or malicious nodes while maintaining agreement on the state of the blockchain.

Sharding also isolates the impact of any potential attack by limiting it to a group of nodes rather than affecting the entire network.

Additionally, Zilliqa’s hybrid consensus mechanism ensures that computational power is required to participate in the network, making it difficult for bad actors to overwhelm the system.

Transactional data on the network is protected with encryption algorithms, digital signatures and hash functions.

Finally, Zilliqa undergoes regular security audits and assessments to identify and address vulnerabilities. It also operates a bug bounty program, encouraging community members to identify and report potential flaws.

What is ZIL used for?

The ZIL coin serves various purposes, including paying transaction fees, staking and consensus, and creating and deploying dApps on Zilliqa.

ZIL holders can also participate in on-chain governance, voting on important decisions such as protocol upgrades and network parameter changes.

Zilliqa price and tokenomics

ZIL has a maximum supply of 21 billion coins, controlled through a “gradual release” process to incentivize network security while controlling the inflation rate. The platform has already distributed more than 81% of all ZIL coins.

Regarding allocation, 10% of the funds are kept by Zilliqa’s parent company, Anquan Capital; 12% are preserved for future research and development; and 5% have been earmarked for the team.

What is the all-time high for Zilliqa?

The all-time high (ATH) price of the Zilliqa crypto occurred on 6 May 2021, when it peaked at $0.25.

What is the all-time low for Zilliqa?

On 13 March 2020, the Zilliqa crypto reached its lowest recorded price when it dropped to $0.0024.

What is the current price of Zilliqa?

The ZIL crypto price currently stands at $0.016.

What is the 24-hour trading volume of Zilliqa?

In the last 24 hours, ZIL had a trading volume of $11 million.

What is the market sentiment of Zilliqa today?

The sentiment surrounding Zilliqa might often shift based on prevailing market conditions, the latest news, and investor opinion. To obtain information on Zilliqa’s market sentiment, it’s advisable to stay up-to-date with reputable sources such as financial news platforms, crypto exchanges, or market analysis websites.

Zilliqa’s market position

Zilliqa has consistently ranked around the top 100 cryptocurrencies in terms of market capitalization. When writing, ZIL was #111 on CoinGecko’s market cap ranking, with a market dominance of 0.03%.

How many ZIL coins are there in circulation?

At the time of writing, there were approximately 17.12 billion Zilliqa coins in people’s hands, leaving about 3.8 billion yet to be mined.

How are new ZIL tokens created?

Initially, the Zilliqa crypto was created through mining, where people competed to solve computational puzzles to add new blocks to the Zilliqa chain. Whoever successfully added a new block to the chain received newly minted ZIL tokens as a reward.

However, with Zilliqa’s transition to a hybrid consensus mechanism, mining has been replaced with staking, and network participants now stake their ZIL by locking them up as collateral to participate in consensus and secure the network. 

In return for their contribution, the participants receive additional ZIL coins.

How to buy Zilliqa

There are a few general steps for buying Zilliqa. One has to set up an account with a reputable crypto exchange that supports ZIL. You’ll then need to deposit fiat or other cryptocurrencies into your exchange account.

Next, find a ZIL trading pair on the exchange. If you’ve deposited fiat currency, you’ll first have to trade it for a supported digital currency and then proceed to the ZIL trading pair.

Determine the type of order you want to place, then execute the trade and let the exchange process it.

Can I buy Zilliqa on Coinbase?

When going to press, Zilliqa was not listed on Coinbase. However, crypto listings and availability can change over time, so ensure you keep checking the Coinbase website to confirm the availability of ZIL.

How to store ZIL

It’s advisable to transfer your ZIL tokens from the exchange to a private crypto wallet to keep them secure.

Several options are available: you could opt for a software or ‘hot’ wallet like Moonlet, Zillet or Trust Wallet.

Alternatively, you could choose a hardware or ‘cold’ wallet, which are physical devices designed to store crypto offline securely. Trezor and Ledger are two of the most well-known hardware wallet manufacturers.

Finally, you could use a paper wallet, which requires you to generate and print your Zilliqa wallet’s public and private keys on a physical medium, such as paper.

Whatever method you choose, remember to store backups of your recovery phrases or private keys in a safe place. Your ZIL tokens could be permanently lost if you misplace your private keys.

Is Zilliqa coin worth buying?

Like any other crypto, investing in ZIL comes with risks, including volatility, regulatory uncertainty and competition from other platforms.

Therefore, before spending money, please conduct your own research, understand the project’s basics, and evaluate its risk tolerance and investment objectives.

And don’t forget; you should only invest what you can afford to lose because ZIL is not a guaranteed or risk-free investment. 

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