The IOTA Foundation has been chosen as a key participant in the development and delivery of blockchain services across Europe, marking a major milestone for the distributed ledger technology (DLT) platform. This strategic involvement underscores IOTA’s growing influence in shaping next-generation digital infrastructure, particularly within the European Union’s public sector and cross-border institutional frameworks.
Backed by its unique Tangle technology—a directed acyclic graph (DAG) architecture—IOTA stands apart from traditional blockchain systems. Unlike conventional blockchains that rely on miners and incur transaction fees, Tangle enables feeless, fast, and scalable transactions. This makes it especially suitable for Internet of Things (IoT) applications and microtransactions, where efficiency and low cost are critical.
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IOTA’s Role in the European Blockchain Initiative
IOTA is now part of the European Blockchain Pre-Commercial Procurement (PCP) project, an initiative funded by the European Commission to explore and enhance the European Blockchain Services Infrastructure (EBSI). The EBSI aims to support trusted, cross-border digital public services across EU member states by enabling secure and verifiable data exchange between institutions in the European Economic Area (EEA).
The PCP project follows a competitive, multi-phase approach to identify the most promising DLT solutions. IOTA successfully passed the first phase, demonstrating its capability to deliver a functional, Tangle-based distributed ledger system. During this stage, the team ran pilot programs focused on two key areas: circular economy and recycling, and intellectual property rights management.
In the recycling pilot, IOTA enabled transparent tracking of materials through supply chains, allowing stakeholders to verify the origin and lifecycle of recyclable goods. In the intellectual property trial, the platform facilitated tamper-proof registration and traceability of digital assets, offering creators a decentralized way to prove ownership and manage rights.
These successful demonstrations earned IOTA a spot in the second phase of the project—funding and support to further develop and scale its solution.
Advancing with Stardust: A New Era for IOTA
The next stage of IOTA’s involvement centers on Stardust, a major network upgrade that transforms IOTA’s base layer into a multi-asset ledger with full smart contract functionality. This upgrade is pivotal, as it allows IOTA to support tokenized assets and programmable logic—features essential for modern decentralized applications (dApps) and institutional use cases.
Stardust enables:
- Native issuance of custom tokens and digital assets
- Integration with Layer 2 smart contract networks
- Enhanced interoperability with other blockchain ecosystems
- Improved security and governance mechanisms
This phase serves as a real-world test of IOTA’s ability to meet the European Commission’s requirements for secure, scalable, and compliant digital infrastructure. If successful, it could position IOTA as a foundational technology for future EU-wide digital services, including education credentialing, green energy tracking, and public identity systems.
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Leadership Confidence and European Digital Sovereignty
Dominik Schiener, Co-Founder and Chairman of the IOTA Foundation, expressed strong optimism about the project’s implications. “This collaboration is not just a technical achievement—it’s a signal that Europe is ready to embrace next-generation distributed ledger technologies,” Schiener said. “We’re proud to bring Tangle’s feeless, scalable infrastructure into the heart of European digital transformation.”
His comments reflect a broader trend: Europe’s push for digital sovereignty—the ability to control its own data, infrastructure, and technological standards without reliance on foreign tech giants or centralized platforms. By investing in open-source, decentralized technologies like IOTA, the EU is building a resilient, transparent, and citizen-centric digital future.
Why IOTA Stands Out in the DLT Landscape
Several factors make IOTA a compelling choice for large-scale public infrastructure projects:
- Feeless Transactions: With no miners or validators charging fees, IOTA eliminates cost barriers for high-frequency or micro-scale data transfers—ideal for IoT networks and public service applications.
- Scalability: Tangle’s DAG architecture scales with usage; more transactions lead to faster confirmation times, unlike traditional blockchains that slow down under load.
- Energy Efficiency: IOTA operates without energy-intensive consensus mechanisms like Proof-of-Work, aligning with EU sustainability goals.
- Interoperability Focus: The network is designed to integrate seamlessly with legacy systems and other blockchains, ensuring smooth adoption across diverse institutions.
These attributes align closely with the European Commission’s vision for EBSI: a decentralized, interoperable, and trustworthy network that supports innovation while maintaining regulatory compliance.
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Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Q: What is IOTA’s Tangle technology?
A: Tangle is a directed acyclic graph (DAG)-based distributed ledger that replaces traditional blockchain structures. It enables feeless, fast transactions by requiring each new transaction to confirm two previous ones, eliminating the need for miners.
Q: How does IOTA differ from other blockchains?
A: Unlike most blockchains, IOTA does not charge transaction fees or rely on mining. Its Tangle architecture offers inherent scalability and is optimized for IoT and machine-to-machine communication.
Q: What is the European Blockchain Services Infrastructure (EBSI)?
A: EBSI is a EU-led initiative that uses blockchain technology to enable secure, cross-border digital public services—such as academic credential verification and green bond tracking—among member states.
Q: What are IOTA’s use cases in the European project?
A: Current pilots focus on recycling traceability and intellectual property management. Future applications may include digital identity, supply chain transparency, and energy grid monitoring.
Q: What is Stardust in the context of IOTA?
A: Stardust is a network upgrade that introduces multi-asset support and smart contract capabilities to IOTA’s base layer, enabling tokenization and decentralized applications.
Q: Is IOTA compliant with EU regulations?
A: The ongoing collaboration with the European Commission emphasizes regulatory alignment, particularly in data privacy (GDPR), security, and sustainability—core priorities for public-sector deployment.
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