Zilliqa is a layer-one blockchain and the first public blockchain to use a sharding-type architecture. The sharding tech allows transactions to be processed in parallel, resulting in a faster transaction rate. The sharding architecture divides the network into smaller groups of nodes called shards. Each shard can process transactions in parallel, which ensures that Zilliqa's processing capacity increases linearly with the size of the network. Zilliqa uses a Proof of Work (PoW) consensus and Practical Byzantine Fault Tolerance (PBFT) mechanism to protect the network. PoW involves mining, verifying and validating transactions to create a new block in exchange for a reward in the blockchain cryptocurrency.