Zilliqa (ZIL): how it works, supply and reviews
Status update
- Upbit delisting
- Upbit (South Korea) ends ZIL trading (ZIL/KRW and ZIL/BTC) at 15:00 KST on 16 November 2026; deposits have stopped and withdrawals are supported until 16 December 2026 (Upbit notice of 16 October 2026). source ↗
- Reason given by Upbit
- Upbit had designated ZIL a caution-listed asset on 22 July 2026 over an unresolved security incident, and says the issue was not resolved. source ↗
- Upbit withdrawals paused
- Upbit paused ZIL withdrawals from 12:00 KST on 30 October 2026 for a hard fork; no resumption notice had been posted as of 1 November 2026. source ↗
- Bithumb
- According to Zilliqa, Bithumb is also delisting ZIL; no Bithumb notice was checked. source ↗
As of 1 November 2026, from the company’s own announcements unless stated otherwise.
In short
- Type
- Public layer-1 blockchain
- Issuance
- A community vote is being prepared on a tokenomics change that would mint new ZIL to compensate holders affected by the 2026 Ledger-app theft
- Risks and caveats
- Legacy accounts that ever signed through the Zilliqa Ledger app are permanently exposed and must be migrated to Zilliqa EVM.
- Checked
- 31 October 2026
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Key facts
- Ticker
- ZIL
- Official site
- zilliqa.com
Key facts checked on 31 October 2026 against official sources.
What is Zilliqa
Zilliqa is a public layer-1 blockchain founded in Singapore in 2018, with its mainnet launched in 2019 and its native token ZIL. After the Zilliqa 2.0 upgrade (proof of stake, EVM-compatible), the project describes a new focus on a 'Mediation Layer' that checks identity and policy before a transaction settles, aimed at institutional finance.
Network and consensus
| Parameter | Details |
|---|---|
| Type | Public layer-1 blockchain |
| Consensus | Proof of stake based on Pipelined Fast-HotStuff (Zilliqa 2.0); mining is no longer used |
| Launched | Mainnet launched in 2019, together with the Scilla smart-contract language |
| Smart contracts | EVM compatibility on mainnet since 2023; original contracts use Scilla |
| Validators | A typical Zilliqa 2.0 mainnet can be run by 32 validator nodes |
Supply and issuance
| Parameter | Details |
|---|---|
| Issuance | A community vote is being prepared on a tokenomics change that would mint new ZIL to compensate holders affected by the 2026 Ledger-app theft |
What ZIL is used for
- ZIL pays for products and services on the Zilliqa network, including EVM applications.
- ZIL can be staked to help secure the network and earn rewards.
Who develops and governs Zilliqa
- Company
- Zilliqa Group Pte Ltd and related entities (named in the privacy policy, Singapore law)
- Headquarters
- Founded in Singapore
- Partner
- LTIN (Liechtenstein Trust Integrity Network), majority-owned by Telecom Liechtenstein, issues identity credentials for the network
- Governance
- Token-supply changes are put to a community vote on gov.zilliqa.com
History
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| 2017 | The Zilliqa whitepaper is published, proposing blockchain scaling through sharding. |
| 2018 | Zilliqa is founded in Singapore and launches its first public testnet. |
| 2019 | Mainnet launches, along with the Scilla smart-contract language. |
| 2020 | Staking launches on mainnet. |
| 2023 | EVM compatibility arrives on mainnet. |
| 2025 | The Zilliqa 2.0 upgrade goes live. |
| 20 July 2026 | Legacy (non-EVM) transactions are disabled after thefts exploiting a signing flaw in the Zilliqa Ledger app; the legacy side is being retired and balances migrated to Zilliqa EVM. |
| 2 September 2026 | A first hard fork migrates exchange balances from legacy addresses to Zilliqa EVM. |
Security and audits
- In 2026 a nonce flaw in the Zilliqa Ledger app let attackers recover private keys of legacy accounts; the project's post-mortem counts at least 683,130,969.66 ZIL stolen.
- Zilliqa EVM transactions were not exposed by the Ledger-app flaw; legacy accounts are migrated to EVM with a zero-knowledge migration tool.
- In October 2026 X-Bridge and some ZRC2 proxy contracts were affected by a separate incident; X-Bridge is suspended and operational keys are being rotated.
- The mainnet went down on 29 July 2022 after a Scilla crypto-library crash and recovered in under 24 hours.
Security incidents
| Date | What happened | Source |
|---|---|---|
| 29 July 2022 | Outage: Unplanned mainnet outage: a Scilla built-in function call with an out-of-range parameter crashed the Scilla server on mining nodes; mainnet recovered in under 24 hours. | blog.zilliqa.com |
| 19 July 2026 | Key compromise: A buffer-copy defect in the Zilliqa Ledger app's Schnorr signing let attackers reconstruct private keys of legacy accounts from public signatures. Theft began on 4 March 2026 and was reported by KuCoin on 19 July 2026; at least 683,130,969.66 ZIL were stolen and 6,772 accounts exposed. Legacy transactions were disabled on 20 July 2026. Funds returned: A mint-based compensation is being prepared for a community vote; legal recovery is pursued in parallel. | zilliqa.com |
Further incidents are reported by third parties (press, incident databases) but are not confirmed in the company’s own channels, so they are not listed here.
Risks and caveats
- Legacy accounts that ever signed through the Zilliqa Ledger app are permanently exposed and must be migrated to Zilliqa EVM.
- A proposed mint of new ZIL to compensate affected users would change token supply if approved.
- The Mediation Layer, settlement network and vLEI issuer are not yet live, per the project's own FAQ.
- X-Bridge is suspended after the October 2026 incident; affected bridged tokens should not be used until further notice.
Official links
- Website: www.zilliqa.com
- Docs: dev.zilliqa.com
- Blog: blog.zilliqa.com
- Governance forum: gov.zilliqa.com
- Incident page: www.zilliqa.com/ledger-incident
Questions and answers
What is Zilliqa?
Zilliqa is a public layer-1 blockchain founded in Singapore in 2018, with mainnet live since 2019. Its native token is ZIL, used for network fees and staking.
How does Zilliqa work?
Since the Zilliqa 2.0 upgrade it runs proof of stake based on Pipelined Fast-HotStuff and supports EVM smart contracts alongside the original Scilla language.
Was Zilliqa hacked?
In 2026 a flaw in the Zilliqa Ledger app let attackers recover keys of legacy accounts; the post-mortem counts at least 683,130,969.66 ZIL stolen. In October 2026 a separate incident affected X-Bridge, which is suspended.
What is the Zilliqa Mediation Layer?
It is the project's planned product that checks both parties' identity and policy before a transaction settles; per the FAQ it is not yet live.
Sources
- Zilliqa - About
- Zilliqa - FAQ
- Zilliqa Developer Portal - What's new in Zilliqa 2.0
- Zilliqa - Ledger incident post-mortem
- Zilliqa - Ledger incident status
- Zilliqa Blog - Where We Stand (2 September 2026)
- Zilliqa Blog - Network Status Announcement 30/07/2022
- Zilliqa Telegram - Update on the recent security incidents (27 October 2026)
- Zilliqa - Privacy policy
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