IOTA EVM Launch AMA

Published 06 August, 2024

In this AMA of IOTA Foundation which took place on June 6, 2024, Susanne Krone hosted Dominik Schiener, Harry Souvlaki, and Luca Mosar to discuss the launch of the IOTA EVM, the impact on innovation and ecosystem growth, and more! Read our notes below to learn more.

Background

Susanne Krone (Host) – Director of Ecosystem Development at IOTA

Dominik Schiener (Guest) – Chairman of the Board of Directors & Co-Founder at IOTA

Harry Souvlaki (Guest) – Head of DeFi at IOTA

Luca Mosar (Guest) – Board Member at IOTA

IOTA – an open-source, scalable, feeless, green & permissionless distributed ledger

Unleashing IOTA’s Full Potential

Luca expresses excitement about the introduction of programmability on IOTA through the IOTA EVM, highlighting the long-awaited ability for the community to build larger, more complex applications on the platform.
Dom reflects on the history and evolution of IOTA, noting that many outside the IOTA community may be unaware of the project’s progress. He recalls IOTA’s origins in 2015 and its initial focus on IoT and the machine economy, leading to its prominence in 2017.
Dom discusses the various use cases IOTA has explored over the years, such as mobility, energy management, and supply chains, highlighting the areas where IOTA has seen the most adoption: trade logistics, tokenization, and digital identity.
Dom highlights the significance of the Chrysalis upgrade in 2020, which improved IOTA’s protocol by removing outdated concepts and enhancing usability and transaction speed. However, he notes that the absence of programmability has been a major limitation, preventing the ecosystem from growing as it should.
With the release of the IOTA EVM, Dom believes that IOTA is finally unleashing its full potential, enabling permissionless innovation and allowing developers to build diverse applications on the platform.
Dom expresses excitement about the current and future dApps being developed on IOTA, including DeFi primitives, RWAs (Real World Assets), and innovative use cases in trade finance and other sectors.
Dom highlights the importance of getting the basic DeFi building blocks in place to create a functional and thriving ecosystem on IOTA. He looks forward to seeing how these foundational elements will enable the development of new, impactful applications that leverage IOTA’s unique capabilities.

DeFi Ecosystem and Future Developments on IOTA EVM

Susanna introduces Harry, who joined the team three months ago to work on the grants program and the architecture of the DeFi ecosystem they are building. She highlights that the work until now has been mostly behind closed doors, but they are excited about the progress and future developments.
Harry explains that the last few months have been focused on laying the foundational infrastructure for their EVM ecosystem. This includes setting up essential components like RPCs, indexes, oracles, and bridges. He mentions key partners such as Pyth and Supra for oracles, Blast API for RPCs, Goldsky for indexing, and LayerZero with Stargate for bridging solutions. These elements form the first phase of their EVM rollout, aimed at creating a seamless environment for builders and users.
The second phase, according to Harry, involves building a robust DeFi infrastructure necessary for their RWA (Real World Assets) centric environment. He notes that many RWAs require core DeFi building blocks like lending markets and DEXes to function effectively. To this end, they have funded 20+ projects with nearly $2.4 million, including four DEXes, three lending markets, two CDPs, and more.
Harry highlights the strong interest from teams both within and outside their ecosystem, particularly after their recent participation in Token2049 in Dubai.
Looking ahead, Harry discusses their ambitions to push boundaries in the RWA space, aiming to tokenize a variety of assets beyond the basics like Treasury Bills. They plan to explore tokenized carbon credits, regulated funds, and invoices, among others. This initiative requires a strong baseline DeFi infrastructure, which is nearly in place as projects continue to deploy.
Harry also highlights the excitement around the ecosystem’s development, with live updates available through platforms like DefiLlama and block explorers. He expresses enthusiasm for the journey ahead, inviting capital to flow into their ecosystem, which benefits from their deep roots in Europe, the UAE, and strong relationships with regulators and governments.

Strategic Expansion, Compliance, and Innovation: IOTA’s Growth and Future Prospects

Dom reflects on the history of IOTA, noting how their project has always aimed to make blockchain technology applicable in the real world. He discusses their efforts to work with regulators globally, highlighting their focus on projects like EPSI in Europe and their foundation in Abu Dhabi, regulated by ADGM.
Dom explains that they are close to achieving Shariah compliance for the $IOTA token, which will open up new investment opportunities in Islamic finance.
Dom also mentions their work on tokenizing real-world assets (RWAs) and their ongoing efforts to bring these assets on-chain using IOTA and its EVM. He highlights the importance of their on-chain KYC project, which aims to streamline the onboarding process for institutional investors by creating a tokenized KYC process. This innovation is particularly exciting for the RWA sector as it allows for more efficient and secure participation in the ecosystem.
Dom talks about the importance of their ecosystem-building efforts, particularly the significant role of the EVM in attracting a thriving community of developers and projects. He praises the builders who have been early supporters and notes that the IOTA Foundation has made a significant transition from being enterprise-focused to embracing the broader Web3 space.
Dom highlights that while the IOTA EVM has a strong focus on RWAs, it remains a permissionless ecosystem open to all types of projects, including GameFi, DeFi, and even meme coins. He encourages developers from other ecosystems to join IOTA, pointing out that the ecosystem offers tremendous opportunities for growth and innovation.
Susanna then highlights the rapid growth in their builders’ program over the past few months and the excitement surrounding upcoming projects like Stargate V2. She notes that while these developments are core to their EVM strategy, they also play a crucial role in cross-chain connectivity and liquidity.

Key Highlights from the IOTA EVM and Stargate V2 Integration

Susanna asks Harry to elaborate on why Stargate V2 is such an essential component of their strategy, particularly in terms of bridging liquidity and connecting with other ecosystems.
Souvlaki discusses the significance of Stargate, a major cross-chain solution built on top of LayerZero, a leading cross-messaging protocol. He highlights that their platform will be one of the first EVMs to implement Stargate’s V2, which eliminates the risks associated with liquidity pools in V1 by adopting a mint-and-burn function on top of the OFT standard. This innovation removes the bridging risk, ensuring that assets are securely managed across networks.
Susanna adds that their platform is in a prime position as one of the premier launch projects for Stargate V2. She mentions plans for co-promotion and collaboration with Stargate, including hosting Twitter Spaces to connect infrastructure partners with relevant applications in their ecosystem.
Susanna elaborates on the efforts to build a successful DeFi ecosystem, focusing on core infrastructure, liquidity, and accessibility. She highlights the team’s cautious approach to making announcements, ensuring that they can deliver on promises.
Luca shifts the focus to the performance of the IOTA EVM, praising the development team for making it cheaper and faster than many other EVMs. He highlights the significant improvements made since the initial launch of Shimmer EVM, particularly in the fee structure, which is now more dynamic and cost-effective.

IOTA EVM Launch: Anticipating Growth, and Fostering Community Engagement

Susanna expresses gratitude to the various teams involved in making the IOTA EVM launch possible, including the IC team, DevOps, communications, design, and ecosystem teams.

Souvlaki discusses the upcoming native IOTA EVM integration into Rabby, praising its superior UX compared to Metamask. He highlights the integration’s benefits, such as easier portfolio management and mentions several teams like WAGMI, Velocimeter, and others bringing their projects to the IOTA ecosystem. He expresses excitement about the growing number of applications and appreciates the community’s support, especially during the development process.
Susanna initiates a game of predictions, asking everyone to estimate how many dApps will be on IOTA EVM in the next 3, 6, and 12 months. Souvlaki predicts 30 in three months, 40 in six months, and over 60 in a year. Dom pushes for more ambitious growth, aiming for $100 million TVL by the end of the year. Luca estimates 50 dApps in 3 months, 150 in 6 months, and 200 in 12 months.
Susanna highlights the importance of a thriving and engaged community in addition to technological advancements. She mentions ongoing efforts to incentivize and reward community participation, focusing on content creation, ambassadorship, and overall engagement.

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Show Information

Medium: YouTube (Video)

Show: IOTA Foundation

Show Title: IOTA EVM Launch AMA with Dom Schiener & the IOTA Team

Show Date: June 6, 2024