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- The IOTA Foundation is aiming for the launch of Nectar at the end of the third quarter of 2020, while Honey will be launched in the first quarter of 2021.
- According to the IOTA founders, system integration is the biggest challenge for DLT projects, an aspect IOTA has understood like no other project in the crypto space.
- After IOTA has had more than 70% partners in Europe so far, the company aims to expand into the USA and Asia in the coming months.
In the AMA via Coinmarketcap, which took place last Friday, IOTA founders Dominik Schiener and David Sønstebø gave many interesting insights into IOTA’s current development status, partnerships, future use cases, expansion beyond Europe and cooperation with governments.
Following the release of Pollen, Schiener explained that much will depend on “how many tests will be done by the community over the coming weeks” and how these tests will go. According to Schiener, the tentative schedule is for Nectar to be released at the end of the third quarter of 2020, while Honey is scheduled to be launched in the first quarter of 2021. As Schiener stressed, the exciting thing is that the community can play a major role.
Regarding the topic of partnerships, Schiener stated that a lot is still happening in the background. Due to Corona, many schedules have been annoyingly delayed, although this will soon improve. As Sønstebø emphasized, there are more than eight different industries that can be revolutionized by IOTA. Ultimately, he said, “Anything that involves data or transactions can be included in IOTA”.
However, the mobility sector is a market in which the IOTA Foundation is particularly active, as Schiener pointed out:
We are definitely speaking with other mobility companies as well, and are discussing close partnerships.In general, IOTA is the most established permissionless DLT when it comes to mobility, so we are excited to bring real products to the market, especially after Chrysalis.
The biggest challenge for DLT and for IOTA in general is the integration into existing systems of companies. According to Schiener, this is an aspect that IOTA has understood like no other project in the crypto space:
I think one of the biggest problems which many DLT projects are not aware of is the whole problem around system integration. How do I productively integrate a technology like IOTA into my existing systems and create seamless interactions. We solve this problem by having years of experience working with large companies and understanding their needs. We also have many system integrators as partners who are helping to close this gap.
Standardization is also an important issue in this context, which both founders of the AMA described as an important factor in achieving broad adaptation.
I don’t think any other project is as far along with their specification and standardization efforts as IOTA. We consider it pivotal for world wide adoption. Collaboration with open source organizations, standard bodies and companies is our strategy […] But we also are already seeing large companies being the pioneers of their industry and building the first products.
Regulation, expansion and the future role of IOTA Foundation
Another hurdle, which both IOTA founders pointed out, is regulation. According to Schiener, more needs to happen in this area, in particular the crypto industry and tech experts need to start talking more to the regulators. Promising approaches are INATBA and the Digital Chamber of Commerce, says Schiener:
I really hope that by engaging with INATBA and the Digital Chamber of Commerce that we can be a voice for the industry […] in particular questions around legal, tax, accounting and storage for dealing with crypto-currencies need to be clearly defined.
In the first years after the establishment of the IOTA Foundation in Germany, the focus was on the European market. With regard to expansion and applications in the USA and beyond the European Union, Schiener stated that currently more than 70% of all partners still come from the EU. However, this should change in the coming months. Sønstebø said on this:
In the early days there was definitely a major focus on becoming the leading DLT in Europe, which I’d say we have succeeded with. In the last year we’ve gained a lot of US adoption as well and allocate more resources there. US adoption will certainly skyrocket soon.
Asked what the IOTA Foundation will do after the release of Coordicide, Schiener said that there are some very exciting topics to work on, such as sharding and optimizing the new IOTA network. In addition, the focus will then also shift to IOTA for decentralized applications (dApps). Furthermore, Schiener sees the role of the IOTA Foundation as follows:
I think in the future the IOTA Foundation will really establish itself as a “think tank” and leader on data privacy, monetization, digital trust and digital identity. We will continue to develop software, but we will also work more on advising governments and corporations.
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