Zilliqa, the high-performance, high-security blockchain platform, has now announced the launch of non-custodial staking services on its mainnet. Enabled through Zillion, a non-custodial staking platform, users will benefit from a staking service distinguished for its simplicity and security.
As part of the launch, Zilliqa has also introduced a new fungible token to the network—governance ZILs (gZIL), which will be earned alongside staking rewards, functioning as an incentive for long-term token holders. With gZIL, long-term token holders stand to become part of the Zilliqa ecosystem’s governance mechanism. As a limited time token, gZIL will only be issued for approximately one year with its value derived from its scarcity and a cap of 682,550 has been placed on gZIL minting and distribution.
Amrit Kumar, President and Chief Scientific Officer of Zilliqa, said: “After months of rigorous testing with the help of our enthusiastic community, staking is now finally live on Zilliqa, marking a major milestone for our team this year. As one of the first sharded blockchains to implement staking onto the network, we are thrilled to be joining the ranks of some of our most innovative peers, as we continue to build out future-fit DeFi offerings.”
Initially introduced as a Zilliqa Improvement Proposal (ZIP) earlier this year, staking on Zilliqa will allow for greater decentralisation across its seed node architecture—unique to the network’s sharded structure. Simultaneously, the service will incentivise the participation of select node operators and community members to support the service. To bring greater liquidity to the Zilliqa staking ecosystem, the recently launched Zilswap—a decentralised exchange built by Switcheo Exchange on the Zilliqa network—will also enable users to easily hold their gZIL, withdraw, trade, and re-stake their staking rewards, or pool ZIL and gZIL rewards in staking pools on Zilswap.
“Today, poor user interfaces remain one of blockchain’s key barriers to adoption and utilisation. Zillion looks to offer an unparalleled user experience, designed to appeal to newcomers to the world of staking and seasoned network participants while pioneering a new standard of security and user protections across today’s ecosystem of DeFi services,” concluded Kumar.
In the lead up to the launch, Zilliqa’s staking smart contracts were audited by leading audit and assurance firm PwC, followed by a public beta testing period. This past June, KuCoin and Binance were announced as exchange staking partners, acting as a custodian for users and later depositing staked funds in a staking contract to receive rewards on behalf of delegators. With the launch of staking services on the mainnet, intermediary custodian services are no longer required as non-custodial staking will be available via Zillion. Alternatively, users can also choose from a select number of wallet providers such as Moonlet, with Frontier Wallet and Atomic Wallet expected to accommodate staking services soon.
It is estimated that even with 80% of circulating supply being staked, the annual returns through staking will be around 6%.
