Iota (MIOTA)

Iota is very much unlike most other cryptoasset blockchain projects, simply because it isn't based upon blockchain technology. Instead, it is based upon a technology called a Directed Acyclic Graph (DAG), which in Iota's specific case, is called "The Tangle." The intent of Iota is to be used in the machine-to-machine economy (M2M), or the "Internet of Things" (IoT). Iota is known for several unique characteristics, namely that the network grows stronger as more transactions are processed, transactions are free, very small amounts of Iota can be sent in transactions (or zero transactions), and Iota will eventually rely fully upon a ternary architecture rather than today's traditional binary architecture. Iota is notable for the potential to be quantum resistant, unlike most other traditional blockchain projects.



Mining/Staking

Iota does not have a traditional consensus mechanism such as mining or staking. Instead, any device making a transaction in the system has to perform two confirmations of other transactions. These two confirmations are, technically speaking, a Proof of Work algorithm on a very micro scale. However, the amount of computing power and energy used in these transactions is very low, so even devices with very little processing power (phones, sensors, etc.) are able to perform the computations.

Development Team

Three of the main original developers and founders associated with the project are David Sonstebo, Dominik Schiener, and Sergey Ivancheglo (known as "Come From Beyond"). In addition, a large number of core developers are currently working on the project. As the Iota project is currently being examined by a large number of technology firms around the world, it appears that a lot of technology and development expertise is being given to the project.

Criticisms, Caveats, and Competitors

One current competitor for Iota is another DAG-based project called RaiBlocks. However, the Iota developers don't see RaiBlocks as being a competitor, because it is intended for a different niche (P2P payments), and instead openly express support for that project. Currently criticisms of the Iota project mostly revolve around the fact that the Tangle is relatively new and untested technology, which is currently functioning with partial assistance from a centralized node called the Coordinator (which is intended to be disconnected as soon as the Tangle is strong enough to function without this Coordinator). There have also been criticisms about the choice of cryptographic hashing function, and about the desire to based coding logic on a ternary system.

Additional Resources

The project's main website: https://iota.org

Link to Wikipedia Page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IOTA_(technology)

Link to Reddit Community: https://www.reddit.com/r/Iota

Link to Twitter account: https://twitter.com/iotatoken

Link to Team information: http://untangled.world/iota-founders

Link to data on Live Coin Watch: https://www.livecoinwatch.com/coins/MIOTA

Whitepaper: https://iota.org/IOTA_Whitepaper.pdf


More Articles & Links relating to Iota:

Iota Foundation Response to DCI
https://blog.iota.org/official-iota-foundation-response-to-the-digital-currency-initiative-at-the-mit-media-lab-part-1-72434583a2

Reddit AMA, January 7th, 2018
https://www.reddit.com/r/Iota/comments/7orp03/iota_foundation_ask_us_anything_january_7th/

How to Buy Iota, the Complete Guide
https://medium.com/@fuo213/how-to-buy-iota-the-complete-guide-for-crypto-dummies-e63560caf921

Introductory Video Overview to Tangle White Paper
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fnHkf5WwmhU&ab_channel=CryptoHedge