IOTA Token
The IOTA token is the medium to transfer value within the IOTA mainnet. However, unlike other cryptos there are no fees to be paid with the base token, meaning that IOTA tokens are transferred 1 to 1 to the receiver, without miners or other intermediaries taking a cut. The maximum supply is 4,600,000,000 IOTAs.
The smallest denomination of IOTA is called "micros", with 6 decimal points. The total supply consists therefore out of 4,600,000,000 IOTA tokens or 4,600,000,000,000,000 micros.
Previously, one micro was called one IOTA, and 1,000,000 IOTAs made up 1 MIOTA (mega IOTA), however with the change to the supply and upgrade to the Stardust protocol on the 4th of October 2023 on the IOTA Mainnet, the IOTA Foundation opted to remove the SI prefixes to align with the more common denominations used in the DLT space.
Supply Change With the Stardust Upgrade
On the 4th of October 2023, the IOTA Mainnet was upgraded to run under the Stardust protocol. With the upgrade, a change in the supply was also executed, where the initial supply of ~2,779,530,283 IOTAs (2,779,530,283,277,761 micros, to be precise) was increased to 4,600,000,000 IOTAs (4,600,000,000,000,000 micros), where the additional new supply of ~1,820,469,716 IOTAs were distributed under the following allocations and unlock schedules:
| Allocation | Percentage | # IOTA Tokens | Unlock Schedule |
|---|---|---|---|
| IOTA Foundation | 7.075% | 325,469,717 | 10% initial unlock, 4 year vesting, bi-weekly unlock |
| Tangle Ecosystem Association | 12% | 552,000,000 | 10% initial unlock, 4 year vesting, bi-weekly unlock |
| UAE Entity | 12% | 552,000,000 | 10% initial unlock, 4 year vesting, bi-weekly unlock |
| Contributors | 5% | 230,000,000 | 10% initial unlock, 2 year vesting, bi-weekly unlock |
| IOTA Airdrop | 3.5% | 161,000,000 | 10% initial unlock, 2 year vesting, bi-weekly unlock |
You can read more about the supply increase under following blog post and see more detailed information around the token distribution and unlock schedules under following GitHub repository.
Previous Supply: Distribution & No Inflation
Before the supply increase, all 2,779,530,283,277,761 micro tokens were fairly distributed upon the initial ICO without any early VC funding or tokens allocated to founders. Furthermore, there were no vesting schedules or token lockups, meaning the entire supply was circulating immediately. The IOTA Foundation was funded via donations from ICO purchasers with roughly ~5% of the initial token supply.
IOTA still has no inflationThe process of increasing the total supply of a cryptocurrency by minting or creating new tokens. baked into its protocol but due to the supply increase, an annual inflation of around ~12-13% over a 4-year period is carried out via outputs which have been timelocked accordingly.
Buying IOTA
Note that some exchanges might still be using the symbol MIOTA on their platforms, which represents 1 IOTA or 1,000,000 (1
million) micros. Before you buy or sell IOTAs, please make sure you understand what denomination the exchange is
using so you don't get tricked into selling/buying under/over the current market price.
IOTA is listed on most major cryptocurrencyA digital or virtual form of currency maintained by a distributed ledger. exchanges: