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What is IOTA?

IOTA is an open-source distributed ledger technology purpose-built for the Internet of Things (IoT) and machine-to-machine (M2M) economy. IOTA originally used a directed acyclic graph (DAG) called the Tangle, in which each new transaction validated two previous ones without fees. Since the IOTA Rebased upgrade, IOTA runs as a delegated proof-of-stake layer 1 secured by validators, with Move smart contracts and small transaction fees that are burned.

The project was founded in 2015 by David Sønstebø, Sergey Ivancheglo, Dominik Schiener, and Serguei Popov, and formally launched its network in 2016 after a 2015 crowdsale that raised roughly 1,337 BTC. Development is stewarded by the Berlin-based IOTA Foundation, a non-profit established in 2017 and recognized under German law, which coordinates research, core protocol development, and enterprise outreach. Co-founder Dominik Schiener has remained the most visible public face of the project following internal governance disputes that led to Sønstebø's departure in 2020.

IOTA's ecosystem has evolved significantly since its early days. The Chrysalis upgrade in 2021 modernized the protocol and prepared it for the Coordicide roadmap, and the Stardust upgrade paved the way for native assets and tokenization. In 2023 the Foundation launched Shimmer (SMR) as a staging and innovation network, followed by ShimmerEVM, bringing Ethereum Virtual Machine compatibility and smart contracts into the IOTA stack.

In 2024, IOTA proposed IOTA Rebased, a Move-based smart contract platform that token holders approved in a December 2024 vote and that now runs the IOTA mainnet, aligning with a broader push into real-world assets (RWAs), digital identity, and regulated tokenization use cases. A dedicated IOTA Foundation presence was also established in Abu Dhabi through the TLIP (Trade Logistics Information Pipeline) initiative with the TradeTech ecosystem.

On the partnership side, IOTA has a long track record of enterprise and public-sector collaborations. Bosch has integrated IOTA into industrial IoT research, Volkswagen demonstrated connected-car data sharing with the Tangle, and Dell Technologies partnered with IOTA on Project Alvarium, a data confidence fabric later contributed to the Linux Foundation.

European initiatives include work with the European Commission's EBSI, the city of Taipei on digital identity cards, and Jaguar Land Rover on smart wallet experiments for vehicles. IOTA was also selected to participate in the European Blockchain Services Infrastructure pilot programs.

The project has not been without controversy. A 2018 research disclosure about the now-deprecated Curl-P hash function triggered a public dispute with MIT researchers, and a 2020 exploit of the Trinity wallet forced the Foundation to temporarily halt the Coordinator, the centralized component then used to protect the network. That incident accelerated work to remove the Coordinator, and IOTA Rebased replaced it with validators under delegated proof-of-stake.

Today, IOTA positions itself at the intersection of IoT, digital identity, and tokenized real-world assets, competing with other layer-1 ecosystems.

Key Features of IOTA

• Low, Burned Transaction Fees: Transactions on IOTA pay small fees, around 0.005 IOTA for an average transaction according to the IOTA documentation, and collected fees are burned. Low fees keep microtransactions and high-frequency IoT data streams economical.
• Delegated Proof-of-Stake Security: Validators secure IOTA through delegated proof-of-stake, and holders can delegate their stake to them. Validators and delegators receive newly minted IOTA, about 767,000 per epoch according to the IOTA documentation, an initial annual inflation of about 6%.
• Decentralized Identity (DID): IOTA Identity implements W3C-compliant decentralized identifiers and verifiable credentials directly on the IOTA network. It is used in pilots for digital passports, supply chain credentials, and KYC reuse, giving developers a production-ready identity layer.
• Move and EVM Smart Contracts: IOTA runs smart contracts in the Move virtual machine on its layer 1, and the IOTA EVM brings Ethereum Virtual Machine compatibility alongside it, so Solidity developers can deploy existing dApps. Together they support DeFi, NFTs, and tokenization on the network.
• Enterprise & RWA Focus: IOTA has consistently targeted enterprise, mobility, and public-sector use cases rather than pure speculation. Its roadmap emphasizes regulated real-world asset tokenization, trade finance, and digital product passports aligned with EU regulatory frameworks.

IOTA Use Cases

• Machine-to-Machine Payments: IoT devices such as EV chargers, sensors, and smart meters can exchange value autonomously over the IOTA network without middlemen. Low transaction fees keep sub-cent payments between machines economically viable at scale.
• Supply Chain Traceability: IOTA's immutable ledger is used to track goods, certifications, and custody events across logistics networks. Projects like TLIP in East Africa use IOTA to digitize cross-border trade documents and reduce clearance times.
• Digital Product Passports: Ahead of EU regulations requiring digital product passports, IOTA is piloting solutions that embed verifiable lifecycle data into physical goods. This supports circular economy goals, recycling verification, and anti-counterfeiting.
• Connected Mobility: Automotive partners have explored IOTA for in-car wallets, tolling, charging, and data marketplaces between vehicles. IOTA's low fees suit the high device counts typical of mobility networks.
• Tokenized Real-World Assets: With smart contracts and native asset support, IOTA enables issuance of tokenized bonds, funds, and commodities under compliant frameworks. Its Abu Dhabi presence positions the project at the center of regulated RWA experimentation in the Middle East.

IOTA Tokenomics

Total Supply

The IOTA network reports a total supply of about 5.0 billion IOTA (October 2026), so the roughly 4.6 billion created at genesis in 2016 is no longer a cap: staking rewards add new tokens. Following the Stardust upgrade, token denominations were simplified, with 1 IOTA now representing the base unit rather than the legacy MIOTA grouping.

Circulating

Since the IOTA Rebased upgrade, circulating supply differs from the original genesis amount: staking rewards add new tokens each epoch, while burned transaction fees remove some.

Utility

IOTA is used to pay transaction fees, including for Move smart contracts, to secure the network through delegated staking, and to participate in governance. It also underpins tokenized assets, identity attestations, and enterprise data anchoring on the network.

Emission

Originally a fixed-supply asset with no inflation, IOTA under IOTA Rebased mints about 767,000 IOTA per epoch as staking rewards for validators and delegators, an initial annual inflation of about 6% according to the IOTA documentation, while burned transaction fees offset part of the issuance.

IOTA Historical Price Performance

IOTA reached $5.69 in December 2017 during the ICO boom, driven by IoT hype. After a prolonged bear market and internal governance challenges, the project refocused on decentralization and smart contract capabilities.

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