IOTA - What it is and is it headed to be the top priced crypto?!

IOTA - Decentralized IoT...

--
IOTA is a "crypto" currency released in 2015 by a number of German computer scientists who wanted to develop a "decentralized" way to manage the new "Internet of Things" paradigm.

The system is built around several key features, including the idea of the "Tangle" - rather than using "blockchain" technology, a "directed acyclic graph" (DAG) system is introduced to split its functionality across a myriad of "nodes" (rather than a predictable processing network).

In other words, it has a number of core differences which have been designed specifically to help it fulfil its role "providing secure communications and payments between machines on the Internet of Things".

Whilst the jury's out on whether it will survive to hit critical mass, its growth and novel ideas have prompted it to become one of the most highly-valued "crypto" systems by market cap.

It must be noted that the price of each of its "tokens" reflects the nature of the system -- that it's a very "broad" reach, with little depth. Rather like "Ripple" or "Stellar" in how it has been built, the system is more than a fake "currency".

It has a strong set of assets which could potentially put it in good stead for future growth. This tutorial aims to examine exactly what this "system" is, how it's meant to work and whether it's worth "investing" into.
As with all our articles from me, this is NOT financial or legal advice...

Overview

The most important thing to consider with IOTA is that it's designed to be a system rather than a "currency". As mentioned, IOTA is very similar to "Ripple" and "Stellar" in this regard, and is actually similar to "Ethereum" in the way it has an underlying reason for existing. The core factors to consider about it include...

⦁ Created To Manage IoT Systems
"Internet of Things" has been floating around for some time, but has yet to materialize primarily because of a lack of supportive infrastructure.

IOTA determines to become this infrastructure... at least in terms of managing how particular "IoT" assets are bought, sold and used. It's best to think of it like a "Public Phone Box" for the 21st century - where autonomous cars, parking garages and other assets can be managed in a completely autonomous & decentralized way.

⦁ Built On "The Tangle"

Specifically, the idea that transactions can be handled and processed entirely randomly throughout the network is unique to this system (and infeasible with standard "blockchain"). This not only makes the system more secure, but also ensures that it's able to process more transactions quicker than other systems.

⦁ Built-In Extensibility

The system has been designed as a platform which hopes to allow developers & systems providers the ability to create functionality on top of its system.

This is opposed to the likes of "Bitcoin" etc in that it actively gives people the ability to change a number of settings etc that could otherwise cause problems for other systems.

More importantly, it means the number of applications / systems built on top of the platform are almost unlimited in both scope and scale.
Classed as a "third generation" blockchain application, IOTA is now picking up steam, so let's get into what it's about etc...

What Is IOTA?

Market Cap: $11bn
Price: $4 roughlt at time of writing
--
Developed in 2015 and released in 2016, the IOTA system was created by David Sønstebø, Sergey Ivancheglo, Dominik Schiener, and Dr. Serguei Popov - all German computer scientists.
The system is built around the idea of being able to "share" (or rent) IoT connected devices.

As mentioned, you could consider it the 21st century "public phone box" - essentially giving you the ability to manage & utilize a wide array of technologically-advanced assets including the likes of supply chain logistics, mobility, e-Health, smart cities, infrastructure, R&D, interoperability, energy, industry 4.0 and others.

It was created off the back of the underlying idea that the next step for most "industries" is to have systems designed to work autonomously with other machines. This is not possible at present because the technological infrastructure required to get it to work isn't there (or it's siloed). The solution is to create a decentralized "platform" which allows developers to create their own applications / features as required.

To quote its white paper (https://iota.org/IOTA_Whitepaper.pdf):

In this paper we analyze the mathematical foundations of IOTA, a cryptocurrency for the Internet-of-Things (IoT) industry. The main feature of this novel cryptocurrency is the 'tangle', a directed acyclic graph (DAG) for storing transactions.

The tangle naturally succeeds the blockchain as its next evolutionary step, and offers features that are required to establish a machine-to-machine micropayment system.

As mentioned, the most important thing to consider here is the way in which the system has been created to facilitate transactions through the "Internet of Things"...

What Is The "Internet Of Things"?

To briefly explain the reason "why" IOTA exists, the "Internet Of Things" is basically the idea that all the "devices" you have available - from your TV to your refrigerator should be able to "connect" to the Internet, and be able to communicate with other devices.

Whilst this idea has existed for some time, with a number of companies exploring the IoT paradigm (most notably Nest), what most people don't know is there is another side to the coin, with industry providing a large number of potential systems to use it on.

It's the industrial market that IOTA has aimed to target - with the likes of "Industry 4.0", "smart factories" and other systems providing the basis for many of their ideals.

The way IoT works (both in terms of consumer and enterprise) is actually very simple - each "device" connected to the
Internet will be able to relay data & connect to Internet-enabled services. Unfortunately, a standardized protocol / method to allow this has not been created yet - which is where IOTA is looking to step in...

IOTA aims to be the central "platform" driving it all.

Should You Buy It?

Unlike most other "crypto" systems today, IOTA was built around a central core ideal (Internet of Things).
This means that in order to validate whether the "coin" is worth its "price", you need to consider whether it's able to live up to its promise of being able to deliver the "21st Century Public Phone Box".

To answer this, you look at the adoption of the system - namely who is also considering the problem (and solution) as well as building out any of the potential technological products they may put out.
IOTA seems to have been growing its transaction volume (which denotes the amount of "usage" the system has been experiencing).

This is important as it not only indicates that people are adopting the system for usage purposes (not to "trade" the coins)... but it also means that if you're looking to develop systems on top of the platform, it has a strong community.
To add to this, there are several other important factors to consider...

⦁ Central Foundation To Manage Development
Unlike "Bitcoin", the IOTA Foundation was established to guide development and the integration of the system.

This is very important, as it means this foundation is able to outline & determine the future development of the system (one of the core issues besetting Bitcoin).

⦁ Powerful Infrastructure Layer
Built on the "tangle" idea - the system was created to deliver maximum efficiency and scalability.

The system is meant to handle millions of devices / systems around the world, thus making it vital that you're

Ultimately, the underlying issue with IOTA is that it's still relatively new.

However it is growing EXTREMELY fast. I have put my hand in the pot on this one. If they come through with what they are promising this could very well right up with if not the highest priced coin!

The time to pick this one up would be NOW!

Do you guys have any opinions on IOTA? Leave comments below"

If you found this useful please drop and upvote and follow it is much appreciated and will motivate me to keep putting more content out.

Let's make some HUGE gains 2018!!!!