The cryptocurrency world, ever since the revolution sparked by Bitcoin, has been in a state of continuous evolution, embracing new and innovative technologies. At the heart of these advancements lies one of the greatest challenges facing blockchain networks: Scalability. It is precisely at this juncture that a platform designed to tackle this issue, promising the potential to execute thousands of transactions per second, comes to the forefront: Zilliqa (ZIL).
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Introduction to Zilliqa: The High-Throughput Blockchain
Zilliqa was born out of a research project from the National University of Singapore and was designed as a high-throughput, scalable, and permissionless blockchain platform. Its primary objective has been to provide the high transaction speeds and capacity required by modern decentralised applications (dApps) and complex financial algorithms.
Zilliqa is engineered to achieve thousands of Transactions Per Second (TPS) thanks to its ability to process blockchain transactions in parallel. This provides an innovative solution to the network congestion and high transaction fee (gas fee) problems that older-generation blockchains like Ethereum have historically experienced. Zilliqa officially launched its Mainnet in 2019.
ZIL: The Fuel for the Network
ZIL (Zilliqa) is the network’s native utility token. ZIL is vital for the operation of the network and is used for the following purposes:
- Transaction Fees (Gas): The fee paid to execute smart contracts and send transactions on the network.
- Network Security: Incentivising the validators (miners/stakers) who participate in the platform’s consensus mechanism.
- Governance: Providing the token holders with a say in the network’s future development decisions.
Core Technology: Sharding
The most crucial feature that distinguishes Zilliqa from its rivals is the innovative technology it employs to solve the scalability problem in the blockchain space: Sharding.
What is Sharding and How Does It Work?
In traditional blockchains (such as the early stages of Bitcoin or Ethereum), every node in the network is required to validate every single transaction that occurs. As the number of users and transactions increases, this leads to network slowdowns and congestion.
Sharding resolves this issue by dividing a large blockchain network into smaller, independent groups of nodes or shards.
- Parallel Processing: Each shard processes and validates only a subset of the transactions assigned to it. This enables the transactions to be executed in parallel.
- Increased Throughput: As the number of nodes in the network increases, the number of shards can also grow. This means the network’s total transaction capacity (TPS) increases logarithmically. In essence, the network gets faster as it expands.
- Directory Service (DS) Committee: Zilliqa uses a Directory Service (DS) Committee to coordinate between the shards and oversee the entire blockchain. This committee secures the chain’s integrity and reliability by aggregating the smaller blocks validated by the shards into a single, cohesive block.
This system allows Zilliqa to theoretically support thousands of transactions per second, establishing it as one of the highest-throughput blockchain platforms in the industry.
Zilliqa’s Consensus Mechanism
Zilliqa employs a hybrid consensus mechanism to optimise for both security and scalability:
1. Proof-of-Work (PoW)
Zilliqa only uses the traditional PoW algorithm for identity establishment (protection against Sybil Attacks) and organising the nodes into shards. This usage is very limited, lasting only a short period (about 1 minute every few hours). This restricted use allows for:
- Energy Efficiency: It consumes significantly less energy compared to classic PoW networks.
- Easy Participation: It enables easy participation for Ethash-compatible miners.
2. Practical Byzantine Fault Tolerance (pBFT)
The actual process of transaction validation and reaching consensus is carried out by the pBFT (Practical Byzantine Fault Tolerance) algorithm.
- Speed: pBFT is a much faster consensus mechanism than PoW.
- Security: It provides a high degree of security and transaction finality; once a transaction is confirmed, it cannot be reversed.
Smart Contracts and the Scilla Programming Language
Zilliqa uses its own native smart contract language, called Scilla, for the development of decentralised applications (dApps) on the network.
- Scilla (Smart Contract Intermediate-Level LAnguage): This language was designed with a focus on security, helping developers prevent potential vulnerabilities. Scilla, a product of academic research, aims to minimise common errors in smart contracts by leveraging functional programming principles.
With this unique language and its scalable infrastructure, Zilliqa facilitates the development of large-scale applications across various domains, including DeFi (Decentralised Finance), NFTs (Non-Fungible Tokens), and enterprise solutions.
Zilliqa’s Use Cases and Ecosystem
Zilliqa’s high throughput and security make it an ideal platform for a wide range of use cases:
1. Gaming and the Metaverse
The high TPS capability makes Zilliqa an attractive option for fast-paced, high-interaction blockchain-based games and Metaverse projects. NFT-based asset transfers and in-game transactions can be executed quickly and affordably.
2. Decentralised Finance (DeFi)
Rapid transaction finality and low fees allow complex DeFi protocols, such as lending/borrowing, Automated Market Makers (AMMs), and yield farming, to operate more efficiently on Zilliqa.
3. Digital Advertising and Data Management
Zilliqa offers enterprise-grade solutions for the transparent and reliable management of large datasets and advertising transactions.
How to Buy and Store ZIL?
ZIL tokens can be easily bought and traded on many large and reputable cryptocurrency exchanges globally.
- Purchasing: You can purchase ZIL against fiat currencies or other cryptocurrencies by opening an account on popular exchanges like Binance, KuCoin, Kraken, or other major platforms.
- Storage (Wallets): For security purposes, it is highly recommended that you store your purchased ZIL not on the exchange but in cold wallets (such as Ledger, Trezor) or mobile/desktop wallets that support the Zilliqa network.
Zilliqa’s Blockchain Vision
Zilliqa (ZIL) is a pioneering platform that set out to solve the most fundamental bottleneck facing blockchain technology: scalability. With its Sharding technology, the promise of massive transaction capacity, and the security-focused Scilla programming language, Zilliqa is more than just a cryptocurrency; it offers a robust infrastructure aimed at hosting the next generation of large-scale decentralised applications. As the crypto world continues to evolve, Zilliqa’s innovative approach positions it as one of the key projects to watch.
