Where is IOTA on the way to Coordicide?


The IOTA Foundation has taken a look at the current status of network work. The death of the coordinator has its dress rehearsal on the testnet. When the mainnet will be converted to 2.0 is still open.

Things have become a bit quiet around IOTA since the extensive Chrysalis upgrade at the end of April. The Tangle project is heading for the next hot phase: the transition to complete decentralization, which heralds the new 2.0 era under the title Coordicide (COO). The schedule for the ambitious project has been postponed again and again due to the abundance of construction sites and also due to personnel setbacks at the IOTA Foundation. Gradually, however, the developers seem to be preparing for the final spurt. However, the Foundation leaves it open whether it will be something this year with the end of the coordinator.


IOTA in the hot phase

With all the different network sections and projects, it is easy to lose track of things. According to the IOTA calendar, we are currently in the 1.5 version, i.e. somewhere between the coordinator-controlled Tangle version and the final, decentralized version in which users secure the network. The intermediate stage takes place less on the mainnet than in the testnet environment. In order to create conceptual clarity, the Foundation had divided the three-part process, from the playground to the complete integration of the Coordicide modules, into the sections Pollen, Nectar and Honey. This apparently did not provide any clarification. According to the current blog post, the Testnet now operates under the less pictorial, but clear name: IOTA 2.0 DevNet (development network).

The incentivized test network is intended to accelerate both the acceptance of IOTA 2.0 and the successful abolition of the coordinator. The combination of participation in the public network with certain incentives will help expedite troubleshooting and test the IOTA 2.0 solution in combat.

The function of the testnet remains the same despite the renaming. In DevNet, implementations such as the Fast Probabilistic Consensus (FPC) consensus procedure, which is based on the reputation of the network participants, and the GoShimmer node software required for this run as protoversion before they are transferred to the mainnet. In addition to the modules required for the Coordicide, the Testnet also serves to integrate other pieces of the puzzle in the Internet of Things ecosystem. The Foundation:


As the name of the network suggests, it is primarily intended to serve as a development network. This will help our team to iterate and develop faster, build an optimized version of the protocol, but also allow our ecosystem to develop dApps with features that are not yet present on the IOTA mainnet (including digital assets, NFTs and Smart contracts).

Waiting for day X

The goal is to have the “IOTA 2.0 DevNet in a state that is close to the final version of IOTA 2.0” in order to “start experimenting and building on IOTA 2.0” before the official mainnet upgrade. The transition to IOTA 2.0 should be “as smooth as possible”.

The Foundation has not yet been able to elicit an exact date, but so much:

After carefully examining the various options for creating the incentivized test network, our team decided on an alternative approach to accelerate the launch of IOTA 2.0. We are in the process of preparing this plan and will share it with the community as soon as it is ready.

The team is keeping the tension high, but gradually the time seems ripe for the end of the coordinator. It remains to be seen whether the originally roughly scheduled date for this year can be met. A few months more or less shouldn’t matter, despite all the impatience. The core renovation has been taking a few years.