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Zilliqa (ZIL) - All you need to know
What is Zilliqa?
Zilliqa works in a similar way to Ethereum, and its ZIL coin is used for peer-to-peer transactions or to reward contributors to the platform. Zilling (ZIL) is the cryptocurrency that powers the Zilliqa platform.
Zilliqa was the first blockchain with ‘sharding’ technology to become publicly available. Sharding carries out transactions much faster than original blockchains because it divides up the work required.
Although Zilliqa was the first, there are now a lot more platforms that use sharding. The extra competition has prevented ZIL from gaining value to the same extent as other cryptocurrencies. It hit its all-time high of $0.18 in May 2018 but quickly fell from that level, then spent most of 2019 and 2020 below $0.01.
How does Zilliqa work?
ZIL coins are used on the Zilliqa platform to pay for transactions, validate smart contracts, and can be staked to earn interest. ZIL offers a high yield for staking – up to 6% annually – to encourage people to hold on to their coins.
Zilliqa was the first of many platforms to use sharding to make the blockchain scalable. Sharding is a technique of dividing up blocks so they can perform transactions independently and at the same time, before bringing them together again to add a full block onto the end of the blockchain.
With sharding, platforms can process transactions exponentially faster. Zilliqa can perform many thousands of transactions per second, and the extra speed opens up blockchain technology to a whole range of different uses. The Zilliqa platform has already been used for finance, gaming, and advertising applications.
Ways to invest in Zilliqa
The easiest way is to use a broker or cryptocurrency exchange. You can sign up in a matter of moments and start buying, selling, or trading coins straight away.
This method is best whether you’re interested in making lots of trades quickly to benefit from short term price changes, or want to hold for the long term. The links below take you to more information about the different ways of investing.
Get started guides
What is Zilliqa?
Zilliqa is a platform for building decentralised applications. Its big selling point is its speed, as it can process transactions a lot faster than other blockchain platforms. The Zilliqa coin is an important part of running the platform, or it can be traded on the market like any other digital asset.
The best route to understanding Zilliqa runs through our Ethereum 101 course. The two platforms are similar, and by learning about Ethereum you can get a good grounding in how Zilliqa works. Use that as a jumping-off point so you understand what you’re investing in.
How to invest in Zilliqa
There are lots of different ways you can get involved. The best way for you depends on how quickly you want to see returns, how much you want to invest, and what you want to do with your coins. Use the list below to learn more about each one before you make a decision.
- Broker platforms. Brokers are the most straightforward way to invest. You can quickly get your hands on some coins and when you choose to buy or sell a coin it processes the transaction instantly. Brokers usually charge a fee for each trade – although some platforms are free – and the range of coins can be quite limited. Brokers are the best place for popular coins but Zilliqa might not be available on all of them.
- Cryptocurrency exchanges. An exchange is the best place for any smaller coin because the range is much bigger. Often the prices are better too because there is no middleman taking a cut on every trade. Instead, it’s a marketplace where you swap coins with other users. As a result they take a bit of getting used to if you’re new to investing. You might need to purchase another cryptocurrency (like Bitcoin) first and use that to fund your trades.
- Funds. A fund is a pool of money contributed by lots of different investors. That money is managed by a professional who chooses which assets to invest in, with the aim of generating the best results for all concerned. Funds can be expensive, as they’re targeted towards high-value clients and institutional investors, but some now hold cryptocurrencies in their portfolio.
- Mutual funds. A mutual fund is almost the same as a fund, except you can buy it much more cheaply through your broker. It pools together your money with other investors and then the fund manager decides what to invest in. Look out for the management fees associated with the fund, and make sure you find one that holds Zilliqa before you invest.
- Zilliqa ETFs. Exchange-traded funds offer many of the benefits of a mutual fund, without the management fees. They’re often the best and easiest route for a beginner to go down if you want to quickly create a balanced portfolio. It works by owning all the assets within a particular market or index to track the overall performance. When the market goes up, so does the value of the ETF.
- Crypto debit cards. A Zilliqa debit card lets you spend your coins just as you would money from your bank account. You can use a crypto debit card with any merchant that accepts it, and more of them are doing so all the time.
- Smartphone apps. Mobile apps let you manage your crypto coins from anywhere. There are apps that let you buy, sell, or trade Zilliqa just as you would through your broker’s main website. While you can also get an app to spend or save your coins as well.
- Zilliqa wallets. Wallets offer a secure place to store your coins. They encrypt them and keep them so they can only be accessed with a private key that’s unique to you. There are mobile wallets so you can manage your coins from there, or much more secure hardware wallets that don’t even connect to the internet, along with everything in between.
Where can I invest in Zilliqa coin now?
Latest Zilliqa price analysis
Fact-checking & references
Our editors fact-check all content to ensure compliance with our strict editorial policy. The information in this article is supported by the following reliable sources.
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