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- IOTA’s Dominik Schiener said that 2025 was a year of crypto exhaustion driven by excess leverage.
- For 2026, they will work on making IOTA a digital public infrastructure for global trade, linking its token directly to network security, transaction validation, and real economic value.
In his year-end address, IOTA co-founder Dominik Schiener spoke about the project’s strategy for the next year 2026. He said that the goal next year would be to focus on real-world adoption through some key initiatives like the Twim platform.
Schiener called 2025 one of the most challenging periods in crypto, comparing it with the 2018 bear market. He said the industry is experiencing “existential questioning” and fatigue after seeing speculative cycles, memecoins, and value extraction. According to Schiener, leverage-driven trading and short-term token launches eroded investors’ confidence.
Despite the negative sentiment, Schiener said that crypto adoption is making progress at the institutional level. He praised the surge in on-chain activity by large financial players and the increased use of stablecoins for cross-border payments. Furthermore, Schiener said that the tokenization efforts by traditional finance firms are signs of improving blockchain infrastructure.
IOTA’s Strategic Shift Away from Speculation
Schiener said that IOTA chose to avoid moving after speculative trends such as memecoins, NFTs, or short-lived DeFi incentives. Instead, the project has spent the past several years putting focus on real-world infrastructure and enterprise use cases.
A key milestone in 2025 was the launch of IOTA Rebased, which brought key changes to the network’s Layer 1. The upgrade introduced Move-based smart contracts, native staking, full decentralization along with a growing validator set. Schiener said these changes make IOTA production-ready for governments and institutions. Thus, it is capable of handling large-scale, real-world transaction volumes.
Schiener said IOTA has found clear product–market fit in trade and supply-chain digitization. This area represents nearly one-third of global economic activity. Through its Twin platform, IOTA is digitizing trade documents, tokenizing physical assets, enabling trade finance, and supporting stablecoin-based cross-border payments.
Twin is useful in live trade flows, such as shipments in Europe and pilot programs in Africa. Schiener spoke about key partnerships with TradeMark Africa, the Tony Blair Institute, and the World Economic Forum, calling them a strong real-world validation for the IOTA network.
A major development is IOTA’s collaboration with the African Continental Free Trade Area, where together they will work to digitize cross-border trade across the continent. In early 2026, Kenya will conduct cross border trade over the IOTA mainnet, and more countries in the African continent will follow.
Outlook for 2026: institutions and real yield
Looking ahead, Schiener said 2026 will be the year for institutional adoption, real business models, and token utility linked to economic activity. IOTA plans to use its token to secure the network, validating transactions. It will also participate in value creation from trade and tokenized assets.
As per Schiener, IOTA will work on platforms similar to decentralized finance (DeFi), to connect on-chain liquidity with institutional trade finance. He added that IOTA is entering 2026 with stronger fundamentals, live adoption, and a clear focus on becoming a digital public infrastructure for global trade.
