I've mentioned that I've been in the crypto game for quite some time - around when Bitcoin was $20 or so, which puts me back to around 2011... I've seen many projects come and go, but a few of them stand out to me and have miraculously withstood the test of time. That's saying something, considered how quickly some projects can burn out and be forgotten (I'm looking at YOU, Tenebrix!). One of them, however, has stood out to me the most, and I'd like to talk a little bit about it, and why this crypto vet enjoys it.
Bitcoin has lightning networks and other patchwork-like solutions to circumvent the long wait for transactions to occur, but there's little anyone can do to circumvent the fees associated with each transaction. Furthermore - and I do NOT want to spark a debate on this post - let's face it, bitcoin's blockchain is getting a little too big and unwieldy these days for some users. IOTA, however, doesn't have this problem. Transactions are fee-less, and near instantaneous. Not to mention their transaction ledger is extremely lightweight... So how does it accomplish such feats? The solution (and my favorite aspect of IOTA) resides in its consensus algorithm: Enter the tangle - the blockchain killer.
The tangle is a sort of directed acyclic graph, much like the structure used in the Ethereum mining algorithm. Instead of having a linear list, or chain, of blocks containing transactions, IOTA maintains independent transactions directly linked to one another, as illustrated above. How these transactions are verified is that, in order for a new transaction to be approved and processed, it must first "join" the tangle through being approved in at least two previous transactions. I won't get into the technicalities of approval, but I will say that it's a LOT faster than Bitcoin's mining consensus algorithm. And it's fee-less. And it's nearly instantaneous!
The other aspect I love about IOTA is the "micro" aspect. IOTA was designed for the internet-of-things, and hence maintains extremely tiny units of currency for microtransactions. As a matter of fact, most units of value are taken in the order of a thousand, a million, or in the order of billions of IOTA. Most exchanges and users reference MIOTA (or MILLION IOTA) when transferring monetary values... And for the reference, one million IOTA is worth about $0.52 at the time of writing. So one whole IOTA is worth a tiny $0.00000052, or one millionth of a nickel. Whereas one Satoshi is woth $0.0000654223. So when I say "micro" I really DO mean micro! IOTA is capable of truly tiny microtransactions. Which I just freaking love.
So what does this mean? What can IOTA be used for? It can be used and traded just like any other crypto, less the fees and lag aspect. But the goal of IOTA is maintaining a highly scalable, lightning- fast microtransaction system for tiny internet-capable devices. Say, for instance, a distributed service requested GPS location from your phone. In order to prevent spamming (or worse) these services would ONLY provide data if an IOTA or two were sent to your phone. This way, only legitimate services could get such data, and you could (potentially) receive an incentive for it. Another example would be in online games where in-game currency rests on IOTA... which I'd like to see, because I'm tired of one-way payments for gaming things. Granted these aren't exactly the most illustrative of use cases, but I'm sure you all get the idea.
To, to summarize: IOTA is a micro-currency with lightning-fast, fee-less transactions, on top of a brand new structure inspired by the blockchain. I love it because it's tiny and innovative. If you're interested in finding out more, I strongly urge you to check them out here! And, of course, if you'd like to tip me an IOTA or two, feel free to at the address:
UIAEE99EHJKOCXXMOJWOXQVFFTKPCHGAPFJBAST9SSTHIFEZNE9WVVBGXTJTCCWOMJHWOULAHVY9GFYP9YX9MTZKPW
Thanks for reading!