IOTA Review: Distributed Permissionless Ledger for IoT

IOTA is an old-school well-known project occupying the crypto space. It is known for being the preeminent distributed network for Internet Connected Devices.

Apart from being the leading project focused on distributed IoT, IOTA employs unique technology that differentiates it from other blockchain-based networks. 

In this IOTA review, I will attempt to provide all the details you need about the Iota project and analyze the long-term potential of MIOTA.

The Key Features of IOTA are:

To summarise, the IOTA network, known as Tangle, offers users and developers several distinctive features and benefits. Below are some of the key attributes of IOTA:

• Feeless transactions: IOTA has zero transaction fees, making it ideal for microtransactions in IoT applications, where small amounts of data or value are exchanged between devices.
• Scalability: The design of the IOTA Tangle is specifically for high scalability, with confirmation times decreasing as more users participate in the network. Therefore, it is well-suited for applications demanding high throughput and minimal latency.
• Decentralization: IOTA is built as a decentralized network without any central authority controlling the system. As a result, users can transact and interact with each other directly, eliminating the need for intermediaries.
• Security: The IOTA Tangle employs the Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) algorithm as a consensus mechanism, ensuring protection against double-spending attacks and maintaining network security.
• Quantum-resistance: IOTA utilizes the Winternitz One-Time Signature Scheme (WOTS+) cryptographic algorithm, which is quantum-resistant. WOTS+ fortifies the network against potential attacks from quantum computers, which we expect to be more prevalent in the future.
• Green technology: As IOTA does not rely on mining to validate transactions, it has better energy efficiency than traditional blockchain networks. Consequently, it serves as an environmentally friendly alternative to distributed ledger technology.
• Flexibility: The IOTA Tangle is a versatile platform capable of supporting various applications and use cases, ranging from micropayments to supply chain management.

What is IOTA?

IOTA is a unique cryptocurrency because it operates differently from its competitors. Instead of using blockchain technology, the IOTA network relies on various Internet-of-Things (IoT) applications. IOTA aims this approach to the platform for unparalleled scalability and opens up numerous possibilities in the market.

"An Open, Feeless Data And Value Transfer Protocol. IOTA has fundamentally reengineered distributed ledger technology, enabling secure exchange of value and data, without any fees." Source: IOTA

The initial funding for the IOTA project came from a 2015 crowd sale that raised 1,337 Bitcoin, worth roughly $500,000 at the time.

$500k sounds like a small amount, but crowdfunding and ICOs weren't commonplace in 2015. Almost 3 quadrillions of IOTA tokens were issued to the crowd sale participants, with none reserved for the founders, developers or advisors.

Because there was no token allocation to the team, the community donated roughly 5% of the total supply of tokens to the IOTA Foundation, which was used to fund the project.

The IOTA Foundation aims to enable the growing machine economy by powering all the machine-to-machine payments necessary to enable the Internet of Things (IoT).

With the IOTA network, all computing devices embedded in machinery throughout homes, businesses, and factories can communicate, send and receive data, and use the feeless IOTA Tangle to make small micropayments to keep the data flowing.

The IOTA network is a unique cryptocurrency because it operates differently from its competitors. Instead of using blockchain technology, IOTA relies on various Internet-of-Things (IoT) applications. This approach enables the platform to have unparalleled scalability and opens up numerous possibilities in the market.

Interestingly, the IOTA Foundation co-founders, Sergey Ivancheglo, Serguei Popov, David Sønstebø, and Dominik Schiener, didn't originally intend to create a cryptocurrency or a decentralized network. Initially, IOTA started as an IoT hardware chip manufacturer. The design of the chips was to record and facilitate transactions between machines and devices within the IoT ecosystem.

However, as the potential of an IoT network became evident, the company shifted its focus to expand the decentralized network aspect of this technology. By doing so, IOTA allows developers to explore multiple use cases and functionalities of IoT and their interfaces. Consequently, IOTA plays a significant role in driving the adoption of this revolutionary technology.

"IOTA is an open-source distributed ledger and cryptocurrency designed for the Internet of Things (IoT). It uses a directed acyclic graph to store transactions on its ledger, motivated by a potentially higher scalability over blockchain based distributed ledgers. IOTA does not use miners to validate transactions, instead, nodes that issue a new transaction on the network must approve two previous transactions. Transactions can therefore be issued without fees, facilitating microtransactions." Source: Wikipedia

How Does IOTA Work?

The IOTA network has a unique data structure known as the Tangle, a DAG that enables feeless transactions and nearly instant confirmation times. Unlike traditional blockchains that rely on miners, the Tangle operates differently.

In the IOTA Tangle, each transaction must validate two previous transactions before confirming. This technology creates a distinct web-like structure of interconnected transactions, forming a mesh network of data and value transfers. 

Since no miners in the IOTA network Tangle exist, no fees are associated with sending transactions. That makes it perfect for microtransactions in IoT applications, where small amounts of data or value are exchanged between devices. Moreover, the Tangle's minerless operation makes it more energy-efficient than traditional blockchains.

Are There Any Drawbacks to IOTA Tangle?

One potential drawback of the IOTA Tangle is its susceptibility to certain types of attacks, such as double-spending. The IOTA network utilizes the Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) algorithm as a consensus mechanism, preventing double-spending by validating each transaction through the network before confirmation.

To explain the MCMC algorithm, here is a Wiki description: 

"In statistics, Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) methods comprise a class of algorithms for sampling from a probability distribution. By constructing a Markov chain that has the desired distribution as its equilibrium distribution, one can obtain a sample of the desired distribution by recording states from the chain." Source: Wikipedia

In conclusion, the IOTA Tangle stands apart from traditional blockchain technologies, offering several unique features and advantages tailor-made for IoT applications.

IOTA DAG Technology

The technology of IOTA is on the Tangle, a data structure based on directed acyclic graph (DAG) technology, created specifically for IOTA. The DAG data structure grows increasingly complex with more nodes and transactions, which helps provide security. Additionally, the DAG moves in one direction and does not loop back on itself.

The Tangle is a graph composed of nodes connected to each other with edges. It is directed in that the node connections have a direction, so moving from point A to point B is not the same as moving from point B to point A.

And "acyclic" means the structure is not circular, so moving from node to node along the edges means always moving forward. There is never backtracking or encountering the same node twice.

In the IOTA Foundation Tangle, all the connected nodes hold transactional data, and consensus is built into the system. Rather than using a Proof-of-Work blockchain where consensus is separated, and miners are required to form a consensus, the Tangle requires each participant to confirm two other transactions to confirm their own transaction. It gives us a wholly decentralized and self-regulating peer-to-peer network.

This consensus mechanism allows IOTA to remain feeless forever, regardless of the network size. Eliminating miners means no need to pay anyone directly in the network. Instead, each user pays using a tiny amount of their computing power to confirm two other transactions.

This mechanism works because each transaction is confirmed, and those confirmed transactions receive confirmations. Subsequently, there is a build-up of weight behind the transactions. And the greater this weight, the more reliable and immutably secured each transaction becomes.

IOTA Use Cases

The IOTA blockchain's unique architecture and features present numerous real-world use cases across diverse industries. Below are some examples of the potential use cases for IOTA:

Internet of Things (IoT)

Initially designed for the IoT ecosystem, IOTA offers a secure and efficient platform for connected devices. The Tangle's feeless transactions and scalability make it ideal for microtransactions between IoT devices, facilitating data transfer, device-to-device payments, and supply chain management.

eHealth

Medical records are rapidly moving into the digital world. This movement is already helping healthcare practitioners provide better, more rapid and effective patient care. It is also helping with research initiatives.

The IOTA Foundation believes it can improve digital eHealth initiatives by securing data integrity so that providers feel assured they are using reliable data.

Privacy is also a considerable concern in healthcare, and IOTA can help here too. The IOTA Masked Authenticated Messaging uses a Merkle Tree-based signature to send and receive encrypted data over the Tangle, ensuring security and privacy are kept intact.

Automotive and Mobility

The transportation industry can benefit significantly from IOTA technology and the feeless transfer of value between IoT devices. For example, vehicles with a cryptocurrency wallet can automatically pay for tolls, parking, charging stations and other services. They could also receive payments for selling data, ride-sharing and delivery services. Indeed, the car industry giant, Jaguar Landrover has partnered with IOTA.

Supply Chains and Manufacturing

The IOTA platform can assist in all phases of manufacturing and the supply chain as it can provide immutable documentation at every point, ensuring the authenticity of goods. Thus, it can keep the supply chain moving, saving time and money.

By writing data in the Tangle, we can know the origin of a product, including the country and who created it. We can know exactly when it was manufactured and trace it to the employees who manufactured it.

This data and more can be recorded and stored, giving manufacturers, distributors and consumers more trust in the products.

Smart Energy

The power and energy sector is moving towards the Internet of Things at a furious pace. The decentralization of the electricity grid began back in 2016. 

Thanks to its feeless transactions and scalability, IOTA is an excellent energy trading and management solution. It is suitable for micro-payments between energy producers and consumers and facilitates data exchange between smart grids and IoT devices.

Beyond Use Cases & into Partnerships

Over the years, the IOTA Foundation has built up an impressive list of partners and continues adding new large corporations and projects. The following are a few of the largest and most publicized partnerships: -

• Object Management Group
• Trade Mark East Africa
• European Commission
• The Linux Foundation
• Jaguar Land Rover
• Servrox Solutions
• Dell Technologies
• ClimateCHECK
• Tangleweb
• Soonaverse
• Filancore
• Akkodis
• EDAG
• Zebra

Many small, medium and multi-national corporations have shown interest in IOTA and partnered with them on various projects. For a complete list, see The IOTA Archive. That website also contains the latest updates regarding these and other IOTA partnerships.

Featured Partnerships

Jaguar Land Rover

In April 2019, IOTA announced a partnership with U.K.-based Jaguar Land Rover. The partnership will see Jaguar Land Rover rewarding drivers with Iota cryptocurrency for reporting data to Jaguar. The carmaker says the funds earned could be used to pay for tolls and parking, as well as for electric charging stations.

Dell Technologies & Linux Foundation

In October 2019 IOTA announced a partnership with Dell Technologies and the Linux Foundation. The announcement of the partnership said the three companies were working together on a project called Alvarium which is meant to create a system that will validate whether data can be trusted. The project will create a data marketplace which will be capable of rating how trustworthy the data being sold is.

There are a huge number of small, medium and multi-national corporations that have shown interest in Iota and partnered with them on a wide variety of different projects. For a complete list see The IOTA Archive. That website also contains the latest updates regarding these and other IOTA partnerships.

The IOTA Team

The IOTA Foundation board was founded in 2015 by a trio of entrepreneurs who saw that the blockchain was not the most effective means of creating a distributed ledger. In 2017 the IOTA Foundation was established to oversee the research, development, and standardization of IOTA and the economy of things.

The key members of the IOTA Foundation board are as follows:

Dominik Schiener is the Chairman of the Board of Directors & Co-Founder. He is a serial entrepreneur who founded several companies before IOTA, including Bithaus and Fileyy. He co-founded the Iota Foundation and is a co-chairman on the Board of Directors.

Dr Navin Ramachandran is a member of the Board of Directors who joined IOTA in 2016. He is a medical doctor and data researcher

Professor Serguei Popov (A founding member of IOTA), Dr Richard Soley and Clinton Walker are the Supervisory Board Members.

IOTA Executive Team

• Dr Anja Raden: Executive Director of Legal & Regulatory Affairs
• Dave de Fijter: Director of Engineering - Smart Contracts
• Gunnar Stenzel: Executive Director of Communications
• Jan Misselwitz: Executive Director of Finance & People
• Luca Moser: Director of Engineering- Protocol
• Dr William Fabian Sanders: Executive Director of Research

Iota Community

IOTA has a passionate community behind it, which is an excellent asset for any project as it leads to greater awareness and fosters broader adoption of the IOTA token.

So, how big exactly is the IOTA Community?

IOTA has a large, active Twitter community with over 267k followers. The IOTA team keeps the community updated with the latest announcements, and interaction with these tweets is always active and engaged.

For broader community discussion, IOTA has a Discord server (IOTA and Shimmer) with over 64,000 members.

IOTA Token (MIOTA)

The long-term objective of the IOTA project is to create a network capable of power microtransactions between IoT devices. With IOTA, an open market of devices can be created, where resource usage and transfer can be billed second-by-second in real-time.

That will open up enormous possibilities, such as vehicles that share weather and road conditions for small micropayments or smart thermostats sharing temperature, humidity or wind data with weather stations.

The IOTA total and circulating supply is 2,779,530,283. The team decided on this number because it is optimized for ternary computation, being the largest possible 33-digit ternary number.

This total supply was pre-mined at the Genesis transaction, and there will never be more IOTA minted or mined. It is a fixed supply. Because no miners are required to secure the IOTA network, there are no incentives for anyone to try and raise network fees by slowing the network or any other conflict of interest.

MIOTA Token Performance

Even though IOTA tokens were created in 2015 as part of the crowd sale, it wasn't until June 2017 that they were listed on an exchange. At that time, the token traded between $0.55 and $0.65.

The MIOTA token was volatile from the start, dropping from its opening levels to just $0.18 a month later, rebounding and climbing over $1 by mid-August 2017. It couldn't hold up that high, and by November 2017, it was back under $0.40, but that didn't last for long, as December 2017 was a massive rally for the entire cryptocurrency market.

MIOTA reached its all-time high of $5.69 on 19th December 2017 but quickly fell from those dizzy heights. The token struggled but remained above $1 until July 2018.

At the beginning of 2020, MIOTA briefly climbed as high as $0.34. Still, the news of the Trinity wallet hack on 13th February put an end to the rally inspired by news of Coordicide finally putting an end to the Coordinator. From there, the price slipped steadily lower, and as of early August 2023, MIOTA was trading at $0.17388

Buying & Storing MIOTA

It took two years for the IOTA token to get listed on an exchange, but today it is available with most crypto exchanges. The most significant trade volume is from Bitfinex and Binance, although there's also a good deal of volume from Huobi Global and HitBTC.

Given that the volume spreads across several exchanges, MIOTA liquidity does not rely on a single exchange. That means if there was ever an issue with one of the exchanges, traders could always find an alternative market to place their orders.

On the individual exchange books, the turnover appears to be healthy. The markets are deep and liquid, which means easy execution for your larger block orders - no slippage.

How to Buy MIOTA

You can buy MIOTA from dozens of different exchanges. For this example, we will use Binance, the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange by trading volume, but the process will be similar on any platform.

• Step 1: Open a Binance account or log in to the desktop version if registered. 
• Step 2: Connect your wallet to Binance
• Step 3: Choose your preferred method for purchase.
• Step 4: Click "Buy Crypto" (top left on the Binance website).
• Step 5: You can purchase a stablecoin, such as USDT. If you already have USDT tokens, you are ready to buy. Alternatively, you can use a debit or credit card to deposit (Note: not all exchanges offer card payments).
• Step 6: Type IOTA in the search box and click IOTA/USDT.
• Step 7: Adjust the purchase parameters, such as how much IOTA you wish to buy and click the green submit button

After the transaction completes, the final step is to transfer to your secure crypto wallet.

How to Store MIOTA

Firefly is the official non-custodial IOTA wallet. It is open-source mobile and desktop wallet, available for Windows, Mac and Linux and compatible with Ledger hardware wallets. As well as MIOTA, the Firefly wallet supports multiple currencies and is user-friendly. 

The only concern is that the wallet does not have multi-sig support or 2FA.

Iota also has the TanglePay IOTA wallet mobile app, which is purely for storing MIOTA tokens. In addition, you can also use the Exodus and SafePal wallets to store your MIOTA tokens. If you want to know more about crypto wallets, read our dedicated article on the subject.

IOTA Launches ShimmerEVM

In Q1 2023, IOTA launched the ShimmerEVM test chain on the Shimmer Testnet, with the purpose of moving further towards "expanding the reach of the interoperable and highly scalable Shimmer protocol to a broader community of blockchain users and developers who build EVM-compatible smart contracts." (Source: Shimmer Blog)

"The ShimmerEVM testnet chain is the first fully EVM-compatible smart contract chain on the Shimmer network that enables scalable, fast, secure and parallel processing of smart contracts." (Source: Shimmer Network)

The new chain enables the following: -

• Smart Contracts: Building decentralized DApps to deploy on the ShimmerEVM testnet
• Claim Tokens (Faucet): SMR tokens allow users to test with the ShimmerEVM testnet.
• Withdraw and Deposit SMR testnet tokens: To and from the ShimmerEVM testnet: 

ShimmerEVM removes the need for insecure and costly bridges, thus enabling streamlined cross-chain interoperability for asset transfers. It enables infinitely scalable DAG architecture, removing the need for Layer 2 scalability solutions and fixed block intervals that limit block sizes, meaning that “parallelization paves the way for scalable, unstoppable multi-chain economies secured by Shimmer.”

IOTA Technology And New Consensus Mechanism

IOTA added a new consensus mechanism to power Shimmer. That mechanism is a reputation-ranking system called "mana" to reward "good nodes." If nodes misbehave, Mana can also be removed. 

IOTA's engineers claim this system will solve many of the problems associated with popular blockchain consensus mechanisms like Proof of Work (PoW), Proof of Stake (PoS), and Delegated Proof of Stake (DPoS).

Since Bitcoin launched over ten years ago, the biggest issue for blockchain technology has been the trade-offs between decentralization, security, and scalability. The innovative new consensus mechanism from IOTA promises to solve all three problems simultaneously.

Mana is a modular solution and an extension of the ledger state. Its calculation relies on how the node perceives the ledger. Snapshotting is the mechanism that stores older ledger states and removes unnecessary messages.

Each module can be independently replaced should new research reveal further improvements. The IOTA Foundation said, “Software that was not designed with modular foundations will begin to stagnate. Flexibility to upgrade in the future is critical to the long-term success of such rapidly advancing technology.”

The mana reputation system allows token holders to vote on assigning mana reputation points to nodes that behave well in the network. The system also includes auto-peering, in which neighbouring nodes share information to reach full network consensus as quickly as possible.

This solution uses far less power than a PoW mechanism. In the Shimmer mechanism, more Mana allows the processing of more transactions, solving the scalability problem. By voting up the "good actors", these nodes become more firmly embedded in the Tangle, while the "bad actors" become orphaned and unused.

Fast Probabilistic Consensus

Fast Probabilistic Consensus has individual nodes randomly verify the behaviour of other randomly selected nodes. In addition, the percentage of agreement required in each round is also random. All of this randomness makes it more difficult to attack the network.

"The functionality defined in this part of the specification allows nodes to find consensus on whether a given object is eligible or not. This protocol, called Fast Probabilistic Consensus (FPC), is triggered if the eligibility of an object is uncertain. These objects can be messages or transactions." Source: IOTA

IOTA 2.0

The launch of the IOTA upgrade is set for 2023. The online roadmap fails to outline dates, so we are unsure when that upgrade is due. The objective is to optimize the mainnet to provide an "enterprise-ready solution" before IOTA 2.0 (Coordicide) release. To do this, IOTA released the Chrysalis Protocol to improve the mainnet's transactional efficiency before the upgrade.

The project was named "Chrysalis" because of how a caterpillar transforms and emerges as a butterfly.

The Transition to Tangle Free IOTA

Several improvements were included in the Chrysalis update. One is a white-flag approach to calculating balances to optimize the speed and efficiency of tip selection.

Chrysalis will also support atomic transactions, a new signature scheme parallel to WOTS, and a new URTS tip selection. A further change will make IOTA capable of issuing tokens, a request from the IOTA community and corporate partners.

The Qubic Protocol

Qubic was created from the acronym QBC, which stands for quorum-based computation. The Qubic protocol was IOTA's solution to outsourced computation, smart contracts, oracles, and more.

The original conception of Qubic was to become a global standard for IoT payments and messaging. The fee-free nature of IOTA transactions is one of the things making Qubic possible by enabling:

• A way to safely communicate with the outside world in a trusted environment;
• A powerful, distributed fog computing platform for building complex IoT applications;
• A new type of smart contract, which collects micro-payments in real time as it runs;
• A reward system for incentivizing honest participation in the Tangle.

The Qubic protocol specifies how IOTA will deal with quorum-based computations, which include constructs such as oracles and smart contracts. It will allow permissionless, fog/cloud-based, general-purpose, multiprocessing capabilities on the Tangle.

In April 2020, IOTA announced its intention to focus on the smart contract layer and stop further development of the Quibic protocol. The article states that IOTA learned a lot from Quibic but intends to pivot to focus attention on the smart contract layer.

"Our extensive work on Qubic has yielded a great deal of valuable research and development and forms the foundation for our approach going forwards. Accordingly, the IOTA Foundation has made the decision to stop development of Qubic and pivot our focus specifically to the Smart Contract layer." Source IOTA News

IOTA Open-Source Technology

The IOTA Foundation provides frameworks and tools for users to develop and interact on the Tangle.

Node Software

• Hornet: A lightweight node implementation (written in Go)
• Bee: A node implementation (written in Rust)
• Chronicle.Rs: A Rust implementation of Chronicle

Developer Tools

• Client Libraries in various languages, such as JavaScript, Go, Python etc.
  Tangle Explorer: For viewing data and transactions on the IOTA Tangle.
• Private Networks
• Stronghold: A library for secure secret storage and handling
• Self-Executing Smart Contracts

Products

• IOTA Streams: A cryptographic framework for creating secure messaging apps.
• IOTA Identity: Digital identity Built on Tangle
  Firefly: Crypto wallet

Concerns and Criticisms

IOTA hasn't gone without criticism, with much of it centred around the technical flaws of the encryption algorithm. There was also the $11.4 million theft of IOTA in 2018, where a hacker created fake seeds and gained access to users' wallets.

The biggest criticism of the project is that it uses an encryption algorithm named cUrl, which the developers "rolled" themselves, meaning they created the encryption algorithm from scratch, a  highly discouraged thing in the cryptography industry.

These encryption algorithms typically need years of study to ensure they are secure. That need was proven that cUrl had a property known as Collision, whereby the function produces the same output when given two different inputs.

This code could have allowed a hacker to steal tokens from the network. While IOTA's developers corrected the vulnerability, some wonder if more surprises might lie under the code. To date, IOTA still uses cUrl commands. 

In February 2020, a hacker exploited a vulnerability in the original IOTA Trinity wallet to steal roughly $2 million in funds. Subsequently, in 2021, IOTA discontinued the Trinity wallet and upgraded to The Firefly wallet, which is open-source and available for desktop and mobile devices.

IOTA Firefly Wallet

"Firefly is the secure entry point to the IOTA ecosystem." Source: IOTA

Features of the Firefly Wallet:

• Written in Rust language: For higher security and enhanced performance
• Modular Design: Firefly "separates functionalities in module crates" such as handling transactions, see storage and cryptography.
• Secured with Stronghold: Transaction signing and address generation occur on "isolated application memory", which helps to keep the seed details away from potential hackers.
• Crypto.rs: Reduces risks of implementing unsafe transactions by combining cryptographic algorithms used by projects on IOTA.

IOTA & Shimmer Network News & Updates

February 2023: The Soonaverse runs on the IOTA mainnet. In Q1, its decentralized award functionality on its platform enabled the distribution of tokens and badges automatically on the Shimmer Network. Soonaverse announced that NFTs minted on the Shimmer network can be deposited in the Soonaverse marketplace.

April 2023: IOTA announced a "bug-free" operation for the Shimmer Network since its inception. Bitpanda listed the $SMR token in March, and IOTA launched the ShimmerEVM Testnet chain.

IOTA made several enhancements to the Shimmer Explorer: 

• Optimized search speeds
• Enhanced UI responsiveness on compact screens
• Support for showing NFT and native token metadata
• User interface improvements and codebase unification
• Inclusion of participation events, such as governance votes

Coming soon: Digital Assets: A framework for creating tokenized or native assets on the IOTA protocol.

You can view the IOTA progress report to stay updated with developments. In addition, IOTA also has a public research forum, the IOTA Café.

Regulatory Affairs, Sustainability and Social Impact

IOTA launched "Let's Talk About Regulation", a monthly event on the Discord server where expert regulatory speakers share their comprehensive knowledge on a broad range of subjects regarding compliance and regulation. 

In partnership with INATBA and FTI Consulting, the IOTA team organized a roundtable series to define and explore DeFI regulation. 

IOTA is collaborating with INATBA to highlight sustainable projects outside the US and EU. 

"The team is also closely monitoring relevant bills in the European Institutions, such as AMLR, Data Act, and the AI Act,  to ensure that the industry's voice is being heard during these discussions." (Source IOTA Progress Report)

BC100+ invited IOTA to participate. BC100+ is "an initiative held under the High Patronage of H.E. Csaba Körösi, President of the 77th UN General Assembly." 

The purpose of BC100+ is to raise awareness of the potential for blockchain technology to address systemic issues like poverty and climate change. BC100+ plans to raise awareness, promote debate, and "clarify the opportunities of blockchain's role in realizing the UN Charter Values and the 2030 Agenda. The steering committee will publish the manifesto and start onboarding partners in Q2." (Source IOTA Progress Report)

Staking and Assembly

19th May 2023 was the start of the sixth round of IOTA staking for ASMB (the Assembly Network token), with a 90-day staking period ending on Thursday, 17th August 2023.

For every MIOTA token staked, holders receive 0.000001 ASMB (every 10 seconds) for up to 90 days. To qualify for the airdrop, each staked wallet must achieve a minimum of 1.0 ASMB.

In the fifth round, 10.8M tokens were distributed to the IOTA community. On 3rd July 2023. IOTA announced the allocation of 11.7B tokens to stakers. 

Conclusion

IOTA technology is undoubtedly one of the more unique crypto projects. Tangle is a direct departure from the usual blockchain solutions. The goal of powering the Internet of Things is probably one of the loftiest in the crypto space. And with the Tangle providing feeless transactions, exceptional scalability, and quantum resistance, the Iota team could eventually realize their goal.

Overall the IOTA Foundation appears to be doing an excellent job securing partnerships and developing the business. They already have a strong stable of partners and could see adoption spread rapidly in more sectors if they can find success with their distributed ledger solution.

It will be interesting to see if there's an increase in IOTA value after the upgrade to 2.0.

Although IOTA is becoming more transparent in its communications, an improvement would help. For instance, no dates on the IOTA roadmap, so it is impossible to discover what happened and when and when upgrades are due. Information is scattered across multiple papers and websites, which makes it challenging if someone is considering IOTA as a project or investment

Overall, The IOTA project is one to watch over the coming few years.