How to Buy Zilliqa (ZIL)
Beginner’s Guide
What Is Zilliqa (ZIL)?
Zilliqa is a public, permissionless blockchain that is designed to offer high throughput with the ability to complete thousands of transactions per second. It seeks to solve the issue of blockchain scalability and speed by employing sharding as a second-layer scaling solution. The platform is home to many decentralized applications, and as of October 2020, it also allows for staking and yield farming.
Development work officially started on Zilliqa in June 2017, and its testnet went live in March 2018. A little over a year later, in June 2019, the platform launched its mainnet.
The native utility token of Zilliqa, ZIL, is used to process transactions on the network and execute smart contracts.
How to Buy Zilliqa Summary
- Get a Zilliqa wallet (e.g. Ledger, Trezor , Exodus, Guarda, AtomicWallet)
- Find an exchange that sells Zilliqa (e.g. , Binance ,OKX, Gate , Bitfinex , Kucoin)
- Deposit money and make the trade
- Withdraw the Zilliqa to your wallet
Buying Zilliqa in 3 Simple Steps
Step 1 – Get a ZIL wallet
Zilliqa Hardware Wallets
Zilliqa is a cryptocurrency that is designed to be fast and scalable, making it ideal for use in decentralized applications (dApps). Hardware wallets are physical devices that store cryptocurrency private keys offline, providing a more secure way to store your assets than keeping them on an exchange or online wallet.
At the moment, Zilliqa is supported by a limited number of hardware wallets, but more options may become available in the future. The following are some of the hardware wallets that support Zilliqa:
Ledger Nano S and Ledger Nano X – These are two of the most popular hardware wallets on the market, and they both support Zilliqa. Ledger wallets are known for their security features and ease of use.
Trezor Model T – The Trezor Model T is another popular hardware wallet that supports Zilliqa. It has a touch screen display and is compatible with a wide range of cryptocurrencies.
SecuX V20 – The SecuX V20 is a relatively new hardware wallet that supports Zilliqa. It has a sleek design and is easy to use.
Ellipal Titan – The Ellipal Titan is another hardware wallet that supports Zilliqa. It has a large touch screen display and is designed to be ultra-secure.
It’s important to note that while hardware wallets provide an additional layer of security for your cryptocurrency, they are not foolproof. It’s still important to follow best practices for cryptocurrency security, such as keeping your private keys safe and not sharing them with anyone.
The best option for storing any cryptocurrency would be to use a hardware wallet. These are pieces of hardware that store the private key to your coins offline.
Today, there are two leading hardware manufacturers to choose from – Ledger and TREZOR. Both companies have different models of hardware wallets that will get the job done.
If you want deeper insights on specific models, you can read my Ledger Nano X review or my TREZOR Model T review.
Zilliqa Software Wallets
Zilliqa is a cryptocurrency that is designed to be fast and scalable, making it ideal for use in decentralized applications (dApps). Software wallets are digital wallets that store cryptocurrency private keys on your device, providing a convenient way to store and manage your assets.
There are several software wallets that support Zilliqa, both for desktop and mobile devices. Here are some of the most popular Zilliqa software wallets:
Moonlet – Moonlet is a multi-cryptocurrency wallet that supports Zilliqa. It is available for both desktop and mobile devices, and offers features such as staking, DApp integration, and transaction history.
ZilPay – ZilPay is a browser extension wallet that supports Zilliqa. It is available for Chrome, Firefox, Opera, and Brave browsers, and allows users to send and receive Zilliqa, as well as interact with dApps on the Zilliqa blockchain.
Atomic Wallet – Atomic Wallet is a multi-cryptocurrency desktop wallet that supports Zilliqa. It offers features such as built-in exchange, staking, and 24/7 customer support.
Ledger Live – Ledger Live is the desktop software provided by Ledger hardware wallets, and it also supports Zilliqa. While it is primarily designed to work with Ledger hardware wallets, it can also be used as a standalone software wallet for Zilliqa.
Trust Wallet – Trust Wallet is a mobile wallet that supports Zilliqa, as well as a wide range of other cryptocurrencies. It offers features such as staking, DApp integration, and one-click in-app exchanges.
It’s important to note that while software wallets can be convenient, they are not as secure as hardware wallets, as they are connected to the internet and therefore more vulnerable to hacking and other security threats. It’s important to follow best practices for cryptocurrency security, such as keeping your private keys safe and not sharing them with anyone.
Hardware wallets cost money, so if you’re not sure how serious you are about cryptocurrencies and just want to get a taste of what they feel like, perhaps you would be better off starting with a software wallet.
A software wallet is a free program that lets you store your coins on your computer or mobile phone.
The easiest Zilliqa software wallets to get started with are undoubtedly Exodus, Atomic Wallet and Guarda . All wallets are very intuitive. Exodus, Atomic Wallet and Guarda is available on desktop for Windows, Mac and Linux, as well as on mobile for both iOS and Android. If you want more information you can read my Exodus, AtomicWallet and Guarda review.
Step 2 – Find an Zilliqa (ZIL) Exchange
Buy Zilliqa through Binance
- Binance is a cryptocurrency exchange which is the largest exchange in the world in terms of daily trading volume of cryptocurrencies. It was founded in 2017 and is registered in the Cayman Islands. Binance was founded by Changpeng Zhao, a developer who had previously created high frequency trading software.
Buy Zilliqa through Okex
- OKX (Chinese: 欧易), formerly known as OKEx, is a Seychelles-based cryptocurrency exchange and derivatives exchange. It was founded by Star Xu (徐明星) in 2017. OKX is owned by Ok Group, which also owns crypto exchange Okcoin. It is not available to US based investors. The company’s CEO is Jay Hao and CMO is Haider Rafique. Initially headquartered in Beijing, China, OKX is now under a blanket ban by Chinese regulators. On October 13, 2021, it issued a “Notice on Regulatory Policy in Mainland China”, announcing that it would continue its policy of “withdrawing from the Chinese mainland market” and would not establish an office or team in the region. However, according to Caixin, although the exchange officially announced that it would no longer set up an office in Mainland China, it still has a large number of R&D staff working in the region, including engineers, who continue to work for OKX in the form of third-party outsourcing companies.
Buy Zilliqa through Gate.io
- Gate.io is a crypto exchange founded in the fall of 2017. The platform is a part of Gate Technology Inc corporation, and has a registration address in Virginia, USA. The platform does not have an official license. Its interface is available for working in three versions: English, Chinese and Japanese.
Buy Zilliqa through Bitfinex
- Bitfinex is a cryptocurrency exchange owned and operated by iFinex Inc registered in the British Virgin Islands.Their customers’ money has been stolen or lost in several incidents, and they have been unable to secure normal banking relationships.Bitfinex was founded in December 2012 as a peer-to-peer Bitcoin exchange, offering digital asset trading services to users around the world. Bitfinex initially started as a P2P margin lending platform for Bitcoin and later added support for more cryptocurrencies.
Buy Zilliqa through Kucoin
- Kucoin is a global cryptocurrency exchange for numerous digital assets and cryptocurrencies. Launched in September 2017, KuCoin has grown into one of the most popular crypto exchanges and already has over 8 million registered users from 700+ countries and regions. According to Alexa traffic ranking, KuCoin’s monthly unique ranking is in the top 5 globally. Known as the “People’s Exchange”, KuCoin operates in Seychelles, providing users with multi-language and 24/7 customer service. Meanwhile, KuCoin has established local communities all over the world in South Korea, Japan, Spain, Italy, Vietnam, Turkey, Russia, India, and other regions, providing users with the most local services. Currently, 1 out of every 4 crypto holders in the world is with KuCoin.
Step 3 – Withdraw Your Zilliqa
Once you decide on an exchange, open an account and buy your Zilliqa . Make sure to withdraw the Zilliqa from the exchange to your personal wallet. Never leave coins on an exchange, as you risk losing them all if that exchange gets hacked or shuts down (which has happened in the past) and always double check address before send coins because you can send the coins to wrong address .
Overview
Who Are the Founders of Zilliqa?
Zilliqa was first conceived by Prateek Saxena, an assistant professor at the National University of Singapore School of Computing. Saxena and several students in the School of Computing published a paper in 2016 that outlined how a sharding-focused blockchain could improve network efficiency and speed.
Around the same time, Saxena co-founded Anquan Capital alongside Max Kantelia, a lifelong finance and tech entrepreneur, and Juzar Motiwalla, former president of the Singapore Computer Society. The company incorporated Zilliqa Research in June 2017 to develop the Zilliqa network, bringing on Dong Xinshu as its CEO, Yaoqi Jia as its chief technology officer and Amrit Kumar as its chief scientific officer. All three previously worked as research fellows at the NUS School of Computing.
What Makes Zilliqa Unique?
Zilliqa is a unique cryptocurrency and blockchain platform that has several key features that set it apart from other cryptocurrencies. Here are some of the main things that make Zilliqa unique:
Scalability – Zilliqa is designed to be a highly scalable blockchain platform, capable of processing thousands of transactions per second. This is achieved through a unique consensus mechanism called “sharding,” which breaks the blockchain into smaller parts that can be processed in parallel.
Security – Zilliqa uses advanced cryptographic techniques to ensure the security of the platform. This includes the use of a secure hash algorithm (Keccak-256), digital signatures, and other measures to prevent attacks such as double-spending and Sybil attacks.
Smart Contracts – Zilliqa supports smart contracts, which are self-executing contracts with the terms of the agreement between buyer and seller being directly written into lines of code. Smart contracts can be used for a variety of applications, such as decentralized finance (DeFi) and gaming.
Interoperability – Zilliqa is designed to be interoperable with other blockchain platforms, which means that it can communicate and interact with other blockchains. This opens up possibilities for cross-chain applications and interoperable DeFi protocols.
Community – Zilliqa has a strong and active community of developers, supporters, and users who are passionate about the project. This community helps to drive the development and adoption of Zilliqa and contributes to its unique ecosystem.
Overall, Zilliqa’s combination of scalability, security, smart contracts, interoperability, and community make it a unique and promising blockchain platform with a wide range of potential applications.
How Many Zilliqa (ZIL) Coins Are There in Circulation?
Zilliqa has a fixed maximum supply of 21 billion tokens. ZIL was first made available for sale as an ERC-20 token as a part of a token generation event that concluded in January 2018. The tokens were subsequently transferred to the Zilliqa mainnet in a token-swap event that concluded in February 2020.
Before launching, Zilliqa generated 60% of all tokens (12.6 billion ZIL) to be distributed at the token generation event, and the remaining 40% (8.4 billion ZIL) will be created through the mining process. Ten percent of all tokens (2.1 billion ZIL) were reserved for Anquan Capital, 12% (2.52 billion ZIL) for Zilliqa Research, and 5% for contemporary and future Zilliqa team members — all of which were announced to be distributed quarterly over a three-year period.
Zilliqa is designed such that all tokens will be mined within 10 years, with the block mining reward slowly decreasing. According to its whitepaper, the project aims to have 80% of the tokens (16.8 billion ZIL) mined within the first four years and 20% (4.2 billion ZIL) in the remaining six years.
How Is the Zilliqa Network Secured?
The Zilliqa network is secured through a practical Byzantine Fault Tolerance, or pBFT, consensus protocol, meaning that at least two-thirds of all nodes must agree that a record is accurate in order for it to be added to the blockchain. Each Zilliqa blockchain shard relies on a group of nodes to confirm a subsection of all the transactions, and once each shard has reached a consensus, a second group of nodes confirms the shards’ collective results and adds a new block to the blockchain.
The network uses elliptic-curve cryptography to secure its consensus protocol and allows for multisignatures. In addition to the pBFT consensus protocol that secures its transaction records, Zilliqa also uses a proof-of-work algorithm to assign node identities and generate shards.
Zilliqa developed a new language, Scilla, for its smart contracts. Short for Smart Contract Intermediate-Level Language, Scilla is a safety-focused language intended to automatically identify and eliminate security vulnerabilities at the language-level and make it easier to formally verify the safety of smart contracts through mathematical proofs.
Where Can You Buy Zilliqa ?
Zilliqa (ZIL) is a cryptocurrency that is available for purchase on a variety of cryptocurrency exchanges. Here are some of the most popular exchanges where you can buy Zilliqa:
Binance – Binance is one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges in the world and offers trading pairs for Zilliqa with several other cryptocurrencies and fiat currencies.
Huobi – Huobi is another popular cryptocurrency exchange that offers trading pairs for Zilliqa with several other cryptocurrencies and fiat currencies.
KuCoin – KuCoin is a cryptocurrency exchange that offers trading pairs for Zilliqa with several other cryptocurrencies.
Bitfinex – Bitfinex is a cryptocurrency exchange that offers trading pairs for Zilliqa with several other cryptocurrencies and fiat currencies.
Coinbase Pro – Coinbase Pro is the advanced trading platform offered by Coinbase and offers trading pairs for Zilliqa with several other cryptocurrencies.
It’s important to note that cryptocurrency exchanges can vary in terms of fees, security, and user interface. When choosing an exchange to buy Zilliqa, it’s important to do your own research and choose an exchange that fits your needs and preferences. Additionally, it’s important to always use proper security measures such as two-factor authentication and not keeping your Zilliqa holdings on an exchange for extended periods of time.