Q3 2024 Progress Report
For the third quarter of 2024, the IOTA Foundation is pleased to report substantial progress across our Technology Adoption, Ecosystem, TLIP, and Legal & Regulatory Affairs departments. During this period, our Research & Development teams and engineers have been fully mobilized on an undisclosed internal project, meaning no R&D updates are included in this report. However, further information about this initiative is expected to be shared later this quarter.
Technology Adoption
The Technology Adoption department continues its mission to drive the widespread use of IOTA’s distributed ledger technology (DLT) infrastructure. This quarter saw ongoing efforts in fostering key partnerships, managing strategic relationships, and supporting technology integration initiatives.
Eviden Partnership
The partnership between IOTA and Eviden, a global provider of IT solutions and services and part of the Atos Group, has continued to gain momentum. We introduced the Eviden Digital Passport Solution (EDPS), powered by IOTA, in July; since then, the solution has found integration in several industries, including manufacturing, automotive, fashion, and food. With impending regulations such as the European Sustainability Reporting Standards and the mandatory introduction of digital product passports by 2027, demand for solutions like EDPS is expected to grow. During Q3, the technical specifications for EDPS were finalized, setting the stage for broader industry adoption in the near future.
Orobo and AuvoDigital
Due to significant overlap in their focus areas and real-world adoption, two projects were onboarded by IOTA’s Technology Adoption Department for the IOTA Tenity RWA Accelerator Program this quarter, supporting our efforts to drive real-world adoption:
- Orobo, a digital solutions platform, is revolutionizing the circular economy by leveraging notarization, carbon credits, digital twins, and compliance tools. Its Digital Product Passports, powered by IOTA EVM, enable efficient and transparent asset verification for material producers and building managers.
- AuvoDigital, a platform specializing in organizational identity and verifiable credentialing, uses IOTA Identity to simplify organizational identity management with its AutoID application, and IOTA EVM to power AuvoComply, its compliance application featuring secure, reusable KYC/AML solutions and scalable wallet verification.
As part of the Accelerator, both these projects were presented in Singapore at the Tenity Demo Day on September 17th, alongside the Program’s other four finalists (see the Ecosystem section for more about these).
European Blockchain Pre-Commercial Procurement (EBSI PCP) Completion
The IOTA Foundation successfully completed the final phase of the European Blockchain Pre-Commercial Procurement process. Throughout this multi-year project, the Foundation showcased its core technology stack and presented pre-commercial solutions for Intellectual Property Rights Management and Digital Product Passports for electronics and plastic waste in collaboration with external partners. These solutions were evaluated on criteria including scalability, sustainability, security, privacy, object identification, data processing, and technical maturity. Going forward, the European Digital Infrastructure Consortium (EDIC), governed by EU member states, will decide the future direction of EBSI.
TLIP
During Q3, the Trade and Logistics Information Pipeline concentrated on advancing integrations with Kenyan government agencies such as the Kenya Revenue Authority, KenTrade, and the Kenya Agriculture and Food Authority, which are responsible for issuing vital trade documents. These integrations now allow Kenyan traders to directly access and share critical documents. Meanwhile, the UK team demonstrated TLIP’s capability in capturing supply chain data related to EU-UK poultry shipments, in collaboration with the UK Cabinet Office.
Ecosystem Development
The Ecosystem Team continues to play a pivotal role in expanding IOTA’s reach by fostering growth and innovation within the ecosystem.
IOTA Governance
The IOTA community voted in favor of the Proposal for Supercharging IOTA EVM Growth, which unlocked 170 million unclaimed IOTA tokens to be used as liquidity within the IOTA EVM ecosystem. The first batch of funds was deployed on September 26th, 2024, and has already led to a significant increase in Total Value Locked and liquidity within the ecosystem, as visible here.
IOTA Grants
This quarter, 40 new grant applications were submitted, with five more projects approved, bringing the total committed funding to $3.7 million. Details about these projects can be found in this blog post.
BuildSphere AMAs
BuildSphere, the ecosystem’s live X Spaces series, hosted 10 guests from the IOTA ecosystem and beyond, attracting over 14,000 listeners. Among the most popular episodes were interviews with Eviden, Cyberperp, and Deepr, which can be revisited on our BuildSphere YouTube playlist.
iotalabs Launch
October saw the launch of iotalabs.io, a new brand dedicated to growing the IOTA ecosystem. iotalabs serves as the ecosystem division, focusing on five key pillars that are essential for driving sustainable growth: community building and relationships, developer support and collaboration, incentives to drive innovation, infrastructure for easy and reliable access, and cross-sector collaboration.
By strengthening relationships with developers, partners, and community members, iotalabs provides a cohesive framework to accelerate adoption, fuel innovation, and support the expansion of the IOTA network. By aligning these strategic elements, iotalabs aims to go beyond just technology and bring people and their ideas together to create an impact and set the basis for IOTA’s future.
To learn more about iotalabs, check out its official X channel.
Events
In Q3, IOTA’s Ecosystem, Technology Adoption, and Engineering teams participated in a week-long series of crypto events in Singapore, centered around Token2049. In addition to co-hosting the already-mentioned accelerator demo day with Tenity, IOTA sponsored key events such as the Centrifuge RWA Roundtable and the Signum Capital RWA Roundtable. Team members also engaged with side events organized by major blockchains, including SUI, Solana, Aptos, and Ton.
In addition to the previously mentioned Orobo and AuvoDigital, the ecosystem team is working with the four other IOTA Tenity RWA Accelerator Program finalists:
- Decentralized Factoring (previously known as InvoiceMate), a decentralized invoice financing infrastructure transforming traditional invoices into tokenized RWAs.
- Qiro Finance, an institutional private credit protocol with underwriting infrastructure.
- The Real Lifestyle, a real estate tokenization platform for both renters and investors.
- Black Frog, a commodities tokenization platform.
Legal & Regulatory Affairs
The Legal and Regulatory Affairs department made several strides during Q3. Notably, Giannis Rousopoulos joined as a Senior Regulatory Affairs Expert, enhancing the team’s capacity to provide regulatory support. The team also provided critical advice on stablecoin regulation within the Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM), ensuring that the IOTA ecosystem’s interests were well represented.
Additionally, the team finalized dozens of grant agreements under the IOTA Ecosystem DLT Foundation, supporting the growth of IOTA projects in the Middle East and beyond. The department also collaborated with the Ecosystem Team to support the finalists of the IOTA Tenity RWA Accelerator program in Singapore, reflecting the Foundation’s ongoing commitment to innovation in Asia. Finally, the Foundation joined several patent pools, including the Crypto Open Patent Alliance, the LOT Network, and the Open Invention Network, to protect its operations and support open innovation across the crypto industry.
Outlook
Looking ahead, the IOTA Foundation remains committed to advancing its mission of delivering cutting-edge decentralized technology solutions. As we conclude the year, we anticipate unveiling further details about the internal project that has been the focus of our teams in Q3. We look forward to continuing our progress across key initiatives, expanding our partnerships, and driving ecosystem growth as we approach 2025.
For current updates on the work of our various teams and working groups, join our community on Discord or follow us on X/Twitter.