Zilliqa Zilliqa stands out as the initial public blockchain platform designed for high throughput, capable of scaling up to handle a remarkable number of transactions every second. Utilizing a groundbreaking sharding protocol, Zilliqa effectively boosts transaction speeds as its network expands. This platform not only facilitates secure and data-intensive dApps but also meets the demanding scalability needs of financial algorithms and machine learning applications.
Who Is Behind Zilliqa?
The Zilliqa platform has been in operation for two years, during which the team has achieved considerable progress. The team Composed of a diverse group with proficiency in areas such as networking, distributed systems, advanced engineering, cybersecurity, and cryptocurrency, the Zilliqa team has been collaborating for two impressive years, with some teammates working together for over six years.
Why Is This Scalability a Big Deal?
While there are numerous public blockchain platforms in existence, Zilliqa’s superior scalability positions it as a significant contribution to the field. This primarily stems from its capability to handle more transactions per second with the addition of mining nodes — a technically challenging feat that Zilliqa’s unique consensus protocol impressively resolves.
Thanks to its exceptional scalability, Zilliqa opens doors for dApps that demand higher transaction rates than those currently feasible, broadening the horizons for developers. The team envisions the platform powering dApps such as high-volume parallel auctions, payment networks, and transparent digital advertising supply chains.
How Do Miners and dApps Reap the Benefits of Zilliqa?
A distinct advantage for dApps is Zilliqa’s ability to scale throughput to thousands of transactions each second. This is coupled with quantifiable security measures tailored to various budgets, supporting secure computation. The smart contracts are built in a secure, dataflow style, and utilizing Proof-of-Work solely for identity establishment refines energy efficiency. Miners will benefit from more consistent payouts with lower variance, along with a cost-effective entry thanks to Ethash compatibility.
Which Consensus Protocol Does Zilliqa Implement?
A common consensus protocol is PoW; however, as previously mentioned, Zilliqa employs it simply for setting up mining identities. PoW is not performed for every block but at larger intervals, thus reducing energy usage. The team decided to rely on PoW in this capacity due to its well-documented reliability and field testing.
Instead, Zilliqa implements the Elliptic Curve-Based Schnorr Signature Algorithm, often referred to as EC-Schnorr, with signature aggregation or multi-signing. This approach includes a comprehensive layer managed by a directory committee, alongside a refined PBFT protocol tailored for each shard, maintaining small signature sizes even with multiple miners signing the same block. Additionally, this consensus approach simplifies communication complexity.
To better understand the Zilliqa consensus protocol, it's worth revisiting the sharding concept. Previously prevalent in distributed databases, sharding had not been scalable in open and permissionless blockchain settings until Zilliqa rectified this. With sharding, the vast network of transaction-processing machines splits into parallel 'shards'. Each shard processes a micro-block, which then merges to form the final block.
What Other Scalability Solutions Are Being Explored?
While selecting sharding to enhance scalability, the Zilliqa team also considered other proposals like re-parameterizing block sizes or shifting transactions off-chain. They favored their method for directly addressing underlying blockchain scalability. The team believes that without a core consensus protocol supporting high transaction rates, alternative approaches such as data structure reengineering or off-chain transactions are insufficient.
Zilliqa notes that although PoS is an alternative to PoW protocols, it encounters challenges related to transaction finality, which Zilliqa resolves using its pBFT-style consensus.
How Does Zilliqa Mining Work?
In Zilliqa mining, PoW is not central. Nodes initiate their DS epoch with PoW before transitioning to pBFT consensus protocols. A block's validity and commitment depend on a majority vote during the consensus process. After completing PoW, nodes can vote on a specific number of blocks, earning rewards as each block is added. This differs from Bitcoin mining, where nodes must execute PoW for every new block, resulting in a smaller energy footprint in Zilliqa.
In What Ways Has Zilliqa Enhanced Smart Contracts?
As you delve into Zilliqa's smart contracts, you'll discover their efforts to craft a new language for these contracts. The team aspires to develop a language capable of proving a contract’s safety characteristics, aiming to mitigate risks akin to the Parity and DAO Hacks, which are inevitable in the absence of formal contract proofs.
Rather than a Turing-complete language, Zilliqa’s approach involves a computational model based on communication I/O automata, complemented by CPS-style value returns and a front-end language similar to Solidity. The absence of Turing-complete languages is intentional, considering the non-essential nature for many apps and susceptibility to bugs due to complexity. Non-Turing-complete languages are simpler, thus conducive to method-based formal verification.
How to Buy Zilliqa ZIL
Recently, Zilliqa accomplished their ICO and launched on several exchanges, allowing you to buy Zilliqa on the following sites :
- Huobi
- IDEX
- Gate.io
- EtherDelta
Conclusion
Amidst a plethora of public blockchain platforms, Zilliqa carves out a niche, offering a fresh perspective for enthusiasts interested in crafting decentralized apps. While its sharding protocol appears promising, its capability of delivering the high transaction rates it claims remains to be validated by demanding dApps.
