The ZIL was originally designed as an ERC-20 token on the Ethereum network. However, shortly after the mainnet launch of the Zilliqa blockchain, the ERC-20 ZIL underwent a token swap and transformed into the native digital asset of the newly created network. The token swap of the ERC-20 ZIL to mainnet ZIL started in the second quarter of 2019. This came after the Zilliqa mainnet went live during Q1 of 2019.