Zilliqa 2.0 - The blockchain tailored to your imagination

The whitepaper for Zilliqa 2.0 has been officially published, detailing the design for an innovative, cutting-edge blockchain protocol that is designed to offer builders and brands unparalleled ease of use and customisability.

An evolution of Zilliqa’s original and pioneering sharding technology that combines peer-reviewed blockchain research with an industry-tested, multi-chain approach, this comprehensive upgrade to the Zilliqa network promises a unique way to build in Web3 that is easier and more scalable than ever before.

Zilliqa 2.0 aims to deliver a number of key technical features, including customisable and scalable x-shards, smart accounts, light client support, and built-in infrastructure for cross-chain communication. These technical components will be tested and rolled out as described in the Zilliqa 2.0 roadmap, beginning with the testnet launch of the updated network and its fully Proof-of-Stake (PoS) consensus mechanism.

Whilst each of these foundational pillars is an impressive solution independently, it is when they are combined into a holistic tech stack the overarching vision for a forward-thinking breed of blockchain emerges.

Let’s take a look at how these disparate parts stitch together to create the vision behind Zilliqa 2.0:

A blockchain you can shape as you imagine

The whitepaper for the Zilliqa 2.0 protocol upgrade begins by addressing one of the biggest problems in the blockchain industry - the lack of useability.

Conventionally, blockchain protocols have been designed to be rigid and inflexible, forcing all transactions to compete for the same block space and to adhere to the same fee structure for data processing. This delivers a reliable and secure protocol, yet one that cannot be optimised for multiple applications.

The whitepaper highlights this problem directly, noting that “just as there is no ideal computing infrastructure that satisfies the needs of all centralised information systems, there exists no single chain that can perfectly fulfil the requirements of all decentralised use cases”.

To address this challenge, Zilliqa 2.0 offers a cutting-edge sharding architecture in addition to its mainnet that comprises multiple customisable chains that can be shaped to meet the needs of specific applications or brands.

These x-shards are independent whilst also interconnected, each built upon and interlinked with the secure, reliable, and scalable Zilliqa 2.0 mainnet yet capable of being customised extensively depending on the user’s vision.

X-shards allow businesses and developers to build exactly what they imagine on the Zilliqa network while choosing or creating an x-shard that is best suited to their technical needs. X-shards communicate seamlessly with each other and the Zilliqa mainnet, making the transfer of assets and application data across each chain quick and straightforward.

With the introduction of x-shards, Zilliqa 2.0 delivers the first blockchain platform that allows you to select a Web3 infrastructure that is tailored to your needs, whether that means using a bridged native token, bespoke gas fees, customised privacy, or even different validators.

Zilliqa 2.0 gives you the ability to shape the blockchain you imagine and without limitations, unlocking an intuitive and differentiated approach to Web3 infrastructure that is designed to scale for mass adoption.

Making Web3 as easy to use as the internet

Giving users the ability to customise the blockchain according to their needs is one of the many ways Zilliqa 2.0 aims to make Web3 more accessible, intuitive, and easy to use for developers, companies, and end-users.

Through a suite of exciting changes and its latest powerful network components, Zilliqa 2.0 will deliver the blockchain platform that makes Web3 as easy to use and understand as Web2.

Whether you are making a purchase on a Web3-enabled application or building a tokenisation platform for a major brand, Zilliqa 2.0 is designed to make this process as simple and efficient as possible. 

The network’s new Proof-of-Stake consensus mechanism will see a drastic improvement in block times, which means transactions are executed in a matter of seconds at even significantly lower fees.

Smart accounts will also enable a host of usability improvements, including introducing subsidised gas fees, which means Web3 apps can assume the process of paying for transactions to create a smoother onboarding process for end-users. Smart accounts will also unlock major quality-of-life improvements such as the ability to secure your account with social media credentials, whitelist addresses, and much more.

With light clients, customers will be able to securely interact with the network using devices with very low resource requirements instead of relying on third-party node providers. And Zilliqa 2.0’s built-in cross-chain communication infrastructure will make it easy to bridge tokens from other blockchains or use multi-chain applications, linking Zilliqa’s network extensively to the wider EVM ecosystem.

Each of these features and many more described in the Zilliqa 2.0 whitepaper are designed first and foremost to remove friction from the user experience and create the opportunity for mainstream adoption of Web3 by businesses and customers, while also making building on blockchain a simple and rewarding experience for developers.

The vision for Zilliqa 2.0 is to deliver a cutting-edge and market-leading blockchain protocol that makes the entire Web3 experience as easy as using the internet - and one that you can shape as you imagine.