IOTA Celebrates 10th Anniversary with Major Upgrades and Global Expansion

In 2025, IOTA marked a significant milestone by celebrating its 10th anniversary, a decade characterized by continuous development and innovation. The year was highlighted by the introduction of the Rebased protocol upgrade, which transformed IOTA into a high-performance, decentralized Layer 1 network. This upgrade removed the Coordinator, introduced a Delegated Proof-of-Stake network with up to 100 validators, and integrated Move smart contracts at the base layer.

The Rebased protocol upgrade enhanced IOTA’s tokenomics by including staking rewards, transaction fees with fee-burning, and storage deposits. It also improved security and performance, achieving over 50,000 transactions per second with sub-second finality. This made IOTA ready for large-scale deployments in trade, finance, and digital identity sectors.

Global Trade and Partnerships

The Rebased upgrade paved the way for the growth of TWIN, the Trade Worldwide Information Network. This initiative demonstrated how digital identity, tokenization, and smart contracts could transform global trade. In 2025, IOTA’s focus on trade digitalization led to partnerships with the AfCFTA Secretariat, the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change, and the World Economic Forum. These collaborations aimed to digitalize African trade through the ADAPT initiative, which seeks to double intra-African trade by 2035.

Additionally, IOTA worked with GLEIF to establish verifiable digital identities, enhancing on-chain trust. The Salus project showcased how IOTA could modernize trade finance for critical minerals by tokenizing documents and automating payments with smart contracts.

Institutional Adoption and DeFi Expansion

In 2025, IOTA made significant strides in the United States by integrating with BitGo, providing institutional-grade custody and access to the IOTA Mainnet. This was further supported by Uphold, which enabled native transactions of IOTA tokens for U.S. users. IOTA’s infrastructure was expanded by connecting with LayerZero and Stargate, linking it to over 150 blockchain networks, including Ethereum and Solana.

The DeFi ecosystem on IOTA also saw rapid growth, with the introduction of Swirl for liquid staking, Virtue for stablecoin liquidity, and PoolsDEX for spot asset trading. These developments formed a coherent DeFi stack, enhancing IOTA’s on-chain economy.

For more details on IOTA’s 2025 achievements, visit the full review here.

Why This Matters: Impact, Industry Trends & Expert Insights

IOTA’s 10th anniversary is marked by the Rebased protocol upgrade, transforming it into a high-performance, decentralized Layer 1 network. The upgrade enhances IOTA’s infrastructure, enabling large-scale deployments in sectors like trade, finance, and digital identity.

Recent industry reports indicate that Layer 1 networks are increasingly specializing for stablecoins and institutional use cases. This aligns with IOTA’s advancements, which include the integration of staking rewards and transaction fees, positioning it for institutional adoption and enterprise applications.

As per insights from Ainvest, the Rebased protocol is described as IOTA’s most significant upgrade, featuring Mysticeti consensus for high transaction throughput and full decentralization. This supports IOTA’s readiness for institutional adoption and its expansion into global trade and finance sectors.

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