XTZ is the ticker symbol of cryptocurrency native to the Tezos blockchain. The network itself allows for the deployment of smart contract-based DApps and features an innovative on-chain governance mechanism to avoid contentious hard forks.
Tezos uses a consensus mechanism called liquid proof-of-stake to ensure all validator nodes agree with a single network state. Known as "baking," those wanting to support the network by validating changes to its state must put up a deposit in XTZ. Any Tezos user can then delegate their own holdings to any baker to receive a share of the block rewards the network distributes for validation.