What is Zilliqa (ZIL)?

Zilliqa is a layer 1 blockchain founded in Singapore that was one of the first public networks built around sharding. It later rebuilt itself as a proof of stake chain compatible with Ethereum's tools. Its native coin is ZIL.

What is Zilliqa crypto?

Zilliqa came out of research at the National University of Singapore, led by Xinshu Dong, according to a 2017 Payments Journal report. Its original design split the network into groups of computers called shards, each handling part of the transactions in parallel before the results were combined. Sharding was meant to let the network handle more transactions as it grew.

Zilliqa's own timeline says the whitepaper came out in 2017, the company was founded in 2018 and the mainnet launched in 2019, along with Scilla, its own smart contract language. Staking followed in 2020.

What is Zilliqa EVM?

Zilliqa EVM is the part of the network that runs the Ethereum Virtual Machine, the software that executes Ethereum smart contracts. It launched on mainnet in 2023, letting developers use Ethereum tools and wallets such as MetaMask with ZIL.

The bigger change came with Zilliqa 2.0. Staking provider Stakin says its migration began on June 23, 2025, with mainnet following days later. The upgrade:

• replaced sharding with a single set of validators,
• switched to proof of stake based on a design called Pipelined Fast-HotStuff,
• ran EVM and Scilla contracts side by side in one environment,
• offered both liquid and regular staking.

Zilliqa's site says the upgrade went live in 2025.

What is Zilliqa used for?

Zilliqa lists ZIL's uses as paying for products and services on the network, using decentralized apps, including EVM-based ones, and staking to help secure the network in return for rewards.

In 2026 the project announced a new direction toward regulated finance. Its site describes a "Mediation Layer" meant to check that two parties are allowed to transact before a payment settles. Its roadmap runs into 2027.

What happened with Zilliqa's Ledger app?

On July 22, 2026, Zilliqa suspended native ZIL transactions, The Block reported. A bug dating to 2019 in Zilliqa's own Ledger app, not in Ledger's hardware, leaked part of each signature's secret value. With enough signed transactions, someone could rebuild the private key from public data.

Zilliqa's incident page, updated August 20, 2026, says the first proven theft was on March 4, 2026, and that about 683 million ZIL was stolen from 51 accounts. All legacy, non-EVM transactions are paused, while Zilliqa EVM is not affected. The team plans to invite every legacy wallet holder to migrate to Zilliqa EVM. No migration launch date had been set as of that update. The page also warns that the team will never ask for a seed phrase, and to treat unsolicited recovery offers as scams. See how crypto gets hacked for similar cases.