As we near three months since our mainnet launch, we wanted to reflect on our progress thus far and look to the future.

At Zilliqa, our goal has always been to enable a future where decentralized technologies will play a pivotal role in our everyday lives, radically shaping how we will live, work, pay, and play.

In 2019, we have succeeded in launching a high throughput public platform, have developed a secure smart contract language and can make transactions at a tiny fraction of the cost of other public blockchains. In fact, in recent transactions, for the price of a 1BTC transfer, you can make 40,000 transfers on ZIL.

We are now ready to drive mass adoption through impactful partnerships across a variety of sectors.

PARTNERSHIPS, ADOPTION, AND OUTREACH

In 2017, we first announced our partnership and pilot project, Project Proton, with leading global advertising agency Mindshare, a $30 billion turnover company. We set out to explore the use of the Zilliqa blockchain in mitigating industry challenges such as ad fraud and inefficiency in settlement. In March, Project Proton successfully ran its first live campaign on the Zilliqa blockchain for PepsiCo.

In this campaign, we recorded a 28% increase in efficiency in terms of costs for viewable impressions, by running the campaign through smart contracts on the Zilliqa blockchain versus the standard campaign. With this innovation, Mindshare could analyze campaign data from multiple sources and optimize campaign budgets on a daily basis. We will continue to work with Mindshare to expand the alliance and develop more features on smart contracts to include more media performance metrics.

On another parallel vertical, we started working on Hg Exchange which will be the first member-driven exchange in Southeast Asia to support the issuance and trading of private company shares, including security tokens. Powered by MaiCoin and Zilliqa, Hg Exchange not only allows companies to raise funds but presents accredited investors with unparalleled access to investment in high-growth companies such as Grab, SpaceX and Go-Jek. Hg Exchange solves the perennial problem many shareholders of private companies face by presenting a single destination to help monetize their stake. Hg Exchange has submitted a FinTech Regulatory Sandbox application to the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and is undergoing the application process with MAS.

We believe that adoption goes in parallel with education. To this end, we recently participated in events such as the Future of Blockchain competition with the UK’s top universities. In March, we also launched our new Blockchain A-Z workshop series in partnership with King’s College London’s Blockchain Society, due to expand later this year to the University of Oxford.

THE ZILLIQA TEAM

After a wonderful journey, our co-founder Xinshu, will be stepping away from day-to-day operations and taking a more strategic role as a Director on the Board of Zilliqa.

I will now assume the role of President, in addition to my work as Chief Scientific Officer, and oversee the overall management and operating responsibilities of Zilliqa. I have been working closely with the community and I am looking forward to expanding on this engagement in the near future.

Zilliqa’s strength lies in its people and community, and the leadership team will continue to be a collective force. Yaoqi Jia, Chief Technology Officer, will continue to drive the overall development of the Zilliqa platform. Together with our outstanding team members, advisors, and the community, we are looking to propel the blockchain ecosystem to new heights.

INTERNATIONALIZATION OF ZILLIQA

From a seven-person team to a team of over twenty spread internationally from Asia to Europe, we’ve grown significantly in the past year as we have worked to build our presence as a global organization. With Max Kantelia and myself both based in London, the recent opening of our London office has enabled us to foster greater connections with our developer community and partners across the continent. The team will also be at prominent global industry events such as Consensus New York, Malta Blockchain Summit, and Echelon Asia Summit next month — we look forward to meeting with some of you at these events.

LOOKING AHEAD

From the very beginning, we’ve believed that collaboration has been not only the backbone of Zilliqa but the backbone of the entire blockchain industry. As we work towards making dreams of a decentralized future a reality, we’re excited to continue on this journey with all of you.

“From the launch of our mainnet to the many exciting partnerships we’ve built in the past 20 months, I am very grateful for the opportunity to lead a remarkable team through some of the most exciting months of Zilliqa’s growth and development. I also want to take the time to thank our community — your unwavering support has helped us to realize so many of our goals and dreams. I am so proud of everything that our team has achieved throughout the course of our journey to date. With the way paved for many exciting developments to come, I am certain that the future of the Zilliqa ecosystem is bright.”

– Xinshu Dong, Zilliqa Co-founder