IOTA iota

IOTA is a decentralized blockchain infrastructure and Layer 1 network designed for programmable, real-world applications. The current IOTA Mainnet uses an object-centric ledger and combines a directed acyclic graph (DAG) data structure with Move-based smart contracts. The project is developed under the IOTA Foundation and presents itself as a trust layer for digital assets, identity, tokenization, and verifiable records.

The network supports native Move smart contracts on Layer 1 and also works with the IOTA EVM Layer 2, giving developers a choice between Move and EVM environments. IOTA's object model is intended to make assets rich, composable, and programmable, including dynamic NFTs and application-specific asset structures.

IOTA's product stack targets real-world use cases such as digital product passports, trade data, tokenization, decentralized identity, audit trails, and notarization. Its public documentation also provides SDKs, APIs, CLI tooling, wallet integrations, and operator guidance for building and running infrastructure.

IOTA targets limitations that can hinder mainstream Web3 and real-world blockchain adoption: rigid throughput bottlenecks, poor asset composability, difficult user onboarding, and smart-contract vulnerabilities. Its documentation frames the object-centric ledger and parallel processing as ways to support high throughput and flexible asset relationships rather than forcing every application through a single sequential execution path.

The project also addresses trust and compliance requirements for real-world assets and data. Products such as IOTA Identity, Tokenization, Hierarchies, Gas Station, Notarization, and Audit Trails are designed to connect verifiable credentials, asset authenticity, delegated trust, sponsored transactions, and tamper-evident records. These capabilities aim to reduce friction for businesses and users moving from Web2 workflows to on-chain systems.

IOTA's current design is not identical to its earlier feeless model: Rebased introduced transaction fees, staking rewards, and fee burning. Fees are intended to control congestion and are generally low, while sponsored transactions can let applications pay fees for users.

The current network uses Delegated Proof-of-Stake (dPoS) together with Starfish, a Byzantine fault-tolerant consensus protocol. Token holders can delegate stake to validators; a validator committee processes transactions and maintains a consistent ledger state. Starfish uses parallel block proposals and a three-round finality rule, and its DAG-style dissemination is designed for low latency, high throughput, and resilience to uneven network conditions.

Transactions execute against an object-based ledger through MoveVM. Move's resource-oriented programming, strong typing, static checks, and formal-verification support are intended to make asset handling safer and reduce classes of bugs such as reentrancy and invalid token-state manipulation. IOTA's programmable transaction model lets developers compose operations and create, mutate, transfer, or destroy on-chain objects.

IOTA uses IOTA as the native asset for staking, gas, value transfer, and governance. At Rebased launch, 4.6 billion IOTA were migrated from Stardust; 767,000 IOTA are minted per epoch for staking rewards. Fees are charged for computation/storage, with a portion burned, and storage deposits can be reclaimed when objects are deleted. Supply therefore has no fixed maximum and depends on inflation versus fee burning.

The network exposes a Mainnet, Testnet, and Devnet, with load-balanced endpoints subject to rate limits; production applications can run their own infrastructure. The IOTA EVM remains a Layer 2 environment, while the Mainnet's native execution environment is MoveVM.