- IOTA Rebased protocol revamped introducing an object-based ledger structure and the Move Virtual Machine (Move VM) enhancing programmability, security, and decentralization.
- The updated protocol will feature a staking-based Delegated Proof-of-Stake (DPoS) system, rewarding validators and delegators with newly minted IOTA tokens.
IOTA is being greatly revamped with the launch of IOTA Rebased, a significant overhaul of its protocol that harnesses new blockchain tech for greater flexibility, security, and decentralization. IOTA Foundation has been busy undertaking major overhauls of its ecosystem. With a vote by the community in December of 2024 to make the switch, the project is currently gearing up to launch its mainnet.
IOTA Rebased Mainnet Plans
The IOTA Rebased update is a divergence from earlier IOTA 2.0 plans, instead taking up an evolved distributed ledger technology (DLT) platform. The pivot of this shift lies in the implementation of the Move Virtual Machine (Move VM) and a move from a UTXO-based ledger structure to an object-based structure. This design improvement promotes programmability, with developers being able to create intricate smart contracts and decentralized applications (dApps) on the network, as indicated in our earlier discussion.
The Move VM introduces important enhancements, such as resource-oriented programming, which makes secure and efficient digital asset management possible. Other areas of enhancement are robust data abstraction, which simplifies complex resource management, and static verification, which allows code vulnerabilities to be detected prior to execution.
The Move VM further facilitates formal verification, enabling strict security verifications in smart contract logic. IOTA Rebased’s economic model implements a staking-incentivized system for network security, as reported earlier.
Validators and delegators will be rewarded with staking rewards in the form of newly minted IOTA tokens, with around 767,000 new IOTAs minted per epoch. This will initially translate to a 6% yearly token supply growth, though inflation will reduce over time since the minting rate is fixed.
Network transactions will come with a small fee, which will be burnt to create a deflationary offset against inflation. The gas fee for the first computation unit is 1000 Nanos, equivalent to about 0.005 IOTAs per transaction. A storage deposit system will also be implemented whereby users must lock tokens to cover data storage on the ledger and can recover them when data is deleted.
Security, Ecosystem Growth & Developer Tools
The security and decentralization of the network will be ensured via a Delegated Proof-of-Stake (DPoS) model. The minimum 2 million IOTAs stake will be needed to become a validator, and the network will have a maximum of 150 validator seats initially. Validators, however, can tap into delegators to meet this requirement, promoting wider participation in network security. Validator nodes’ hardware requirements will be 128GB RAM, 24-core CPU, 4TB of storage, and a 1Gbps network interface.
As part of preparations for going mainnet, IOTA released a new set of software tools to ease the transition:
- A browser wallet extension for token management with ease.
- A real-time network insights dashboard dApp.
- Ledger hardware wallet integration.
- New software development kits (SDKs) to enable MoveVM-based development.
- A refreshed block explorer for improved transaction tracking.
- Command-line interface (CLI) tools and Move IDE plugins for developers.
The IOTA Foundation also initiated a public testnet for IOTA Rebased. This allowed users and developers to try out its functionality prior to mainnet release.
