What Is Zilliqa?

About Zilliqa (ZIL)

Zilliqa is a smart contract platform featuring a sharded architecture that aims to address the scalability limitations seen in some other blockchains. Its sharded design allows concurrent chains to execute transactions in parallel, thereby increasing the overall capacity of the network. In addition to scalability, Zilliqa provides a smart contract layer to support smart contract creation by way of its native programming language, Scilla. The network reaches a consensus on transactions and contract executions through a hybrid Proof-of-Work-BFT mechanism. In the coming weeks, it will also introduce a staking system to, in its words, increase the distribution of node operators.

Where did Zilliqa (ZIL) come from?

The Zilliqa project was founded in 2017 by a group of researchers from the National University of Singapore. Initial team members included Xinshu Dong, Yaoqi Jia, Amrit Kumar, and Prateek Saxena (who previously worked with Loi Luu, CEO and Co-Founder of Kyber Network), among others. They incorporated the company behind Zilliqa (called Zilliqa Research) in Jun. 2017, a few months before the team launched its first testnet.

Zilliqa brings the theory of sharding to practice with a protocol that aims to address the scalability limitations seen in some other blockchains. Its sharded design allows concurrent chains to execute transactions in parallel, thereby increasing the overall capacity of the network. The team’s primary motivation in building this product was to create a platform that could process smart contracts at scale without sacrificing core blockchain principles, such as the decentralization of node management. Zilliqa uses a modified version of the Proof-of-Work (PoW) consensus protocol to order and validate transactions, as well as provide security assurances for completed transactions.

According to the team, this modified consensus model provides a more cost-effective version of mining when compared to other networks in the market.Zilliqa's smart contract layer features a proprietary programming language called Scilla, which allows developers to write and express the conditions of smart contracts conveniently. This infrastructure is being used to develop both pilot and commercial applications in the areas of security token offerings, gaming, domain registry service, financial services, and payment reconciliation in advertising.

What are the advantages of Zilliqa (ZIL)?

1. Low transaction fees and high transaction throughput
   
   Transactions currently cost a few cents. Throughput is above 2500 transactions per second, reasonable blocktime of 40 seconds, that will be reduced to 20 seconds in the coming months.
2. Security
   
   Very secured network and proprietary language.
3. Finality of transaction
   
   Ziliqa’s unique POW + PBFT algorithm enables finality of transaction, which means you do not have to wait for several confirmations. This enables faster recording of transactions and opens to financial applications.
4. Highly qualified team
   
   Founders and developers are well knowns researchers and scientists who are experts in cryptography.
5. Growing ecosystem
   
   Thanks to several initiatives, like the ZILHive program, Zilliqa currently has more than 50 different projects developing on top of its blockchain. With the recent setup of Zilliqa Capital, which raised 50m to invest in its ecosystem, it is bound to thrive.

What are the disadvantages of Zilliqa (ZIL)?

1. Smaller community than some of its top competitors
   
   Zilliqa currently has a few hundred thousand users, hundreds of contributors and more than 50 projects developing on its blockchain platform. It is growing fast, but it is still less than some of its top competitors like Ethereum.
2. Non State Sharding
   
   Zilliqa implements sharding, but the sharding is transaction sharding, not state sharding. This is under research and nobody has come up with a working solution (yet).
3. Own smart contract language
   
   Despite clear interests in terms of functionality and security, using its own language creates a barrier of entry for developers to code applications on Zilliqa.

How to buy Zilliqa (ZIL) on SimpleSwap?

Let’s say you want to buy Zilliqa. What should you do? We suggest you go to the SimpleSwap homepage and follow the instructions below:

1. For example, you want to swap BTC for ZIL. Select the currency you want to exchange (e.g. BTC) in the first drop-downlist. Then enter the amount you want to swap.
2. Select ZIL in the second drop-down list. You’ll see the estimated amount that you’ll get after the exchange.
3. Click the Exchange button.
4. Enter the Recipient's Address. ZIL will be sent. Be careful and make sure you use the correct address.
5. Create the exchange.
6. You will see the Bitcoin deposit address. You need to transfer the necessary amount of BTC to this address to start the BTC to ZIL exchange.

SimpleSwap reminds you that this article is provided for informational purposes only and does not provide investment advice. All purchases and cryptocurrency investments are your own responsibility.