- IOTA is set to launch smart contracts on its Layer 1 network this year, with the transition from testnet to the mainnet expected to be swift.
- This would enable the L1 network to anchor decentralized applications and support tokenization, which founder Dominik Schiener says is the network’s key target market.
IOTA has been working towards being an all-encompassing network that can anchor decentralized applications, NFTs, tokenization, decentralized exchanges, and every other blockchain application. While most of these developments have been on the Shimmer staging network, the IOTA Layer 1 could catch up before the end of the year, starting with the debut of smart contracts.
According to discussions from the IOTA’s developers forum, the smart contracts could launch later this year. As noted by one community member on X, they would initially launch in a testnet environment but quickly transition to the main network.
Known as IOTA Academy, he noted:
If this is true and major RWA (real-worl assets) liquidity starts flowing in, we might easily approach IOTA‘s ATH next year.
Smart contracts on a decentralized L1 #IOTA network by end of this year with a quick transition from test net to main net sounds extremely bullish! If this will be true and major RWA liquidity starts flowing in, we might easily approach $IOTA's ATH next year… pic.twitter.com/6CcCJi7GuV
— IOTA Academy (@academy_iota) October 27, 2024
According to the quoted forum conversation, IOTA developers have been working in private repos on big tech upgrades, but they are bound by non-disclosure agreements against speaking out about these developments. It also claims that the smart contracts upgrade might include the introduction of MoveVM, a virtual machine designed to run smart contracts written in the Move programming language.
MoveVM enhances flexibility and security while also promoting speed through parallel transaction processing; it has been credited with allowing Web3 apps on networks like Aptos to process up to 150,000 transactions per second.
Thread: #IOTA 2.0 will integrate MoveVM – A Game-Changer in Blockchain Technology, and it might happen sooner than you expect? pic.twitter.com/yypeJRbXmG
— Obit (@Odd_Kesson) October 16, 2024
Earlier this year, IOTA announced the integration of Supra Oracles for IOTA EVM to enhance the data accuracy of its smart contracts.
IOTA Prepares for a Revolution
This year, IOTA has made significant advancements. While every development has been important to the growth of the ecosystem, none has been as significant as the launch of IOTA 2.0. It launched in May this year on a testnet and signals the network’s most radical development in years.
The testnet allows the entire ecosystem of developers, users, and the Foundation to experiment with the new decentralized framework. It comes with features such as feeless transactions and permissionless voting.
IOTA has already been recognized as the best infrastructure for the Internet of Things ecosystem, with Tangle being singled out as the best implementation of decentralized ledger technology for the rapidly growing sector by a recent study.
As we reported recently, a separate study showed that smart contracts on IOTA 2.0 can enhance and secure software-defined networking (SDN), which makes networks more flexible by separating the components of a data network.
IOTA trades at $0.1097 at press time, dipping 2% in the past day despite a 24% rise in the trading volume and a broader uptick in the overall market cap.
