IOTA: Innovative cryptocurrency without blockchain
We are used to associate cryptocurrencies with blockchain, however IOTA is something totally different. This currency is not based on the blockchain technology and it makes IOTA look, let's say, too different. Speaking frankly, some people consider this currency as something weird and not trustworthy enough. So here in this review we will do our best to put everything clear and to tell the truth about IOTA.
Blockchain – pros and cons
The main advantages of blockchain system are safety and versatility – people use Bitcoin, Litecoin and other blockchain currencies because they want to be sure that transactions will be sent to the proper receiver and that third parties will not have a chance to interfere.
Without a doubt, blockchain is a great solution when it comes to huge transactions, but it is extremely inconvenient for small payments done by online users every day. Firstly, payment processing is too slow and long as each transaction must be confirmed. Secondly, blockchain goes side by side with big fees which are OK for big sums, but inappropriate for "micropayments".
Finally, IOTA operates on a very safe basis too – it is called Direct Acyclic Graph (or DAG) also known as Tangle. We are not going to go deep into the technical things here, but we you should now that DAG is a fully decentralized and autonomous system that allows for instant payments without any fees. However, if you want to withdraw money from IOTA system you will have to pay withdrawal commission, just like everywhere.
Prospects of IOTA
The project has been developed for a couple of years already, but there have been no serious progress yet – cryptocurrency fans know about IOTA, some of them buy and sell these coins, however IOTA is still not popular enough. Developers finally realized that marketing is a very important part, and quite soon IOTA will appear on all major exchanges – the necessary agreements are now being negotiated and signed.
User-friendly wallets and other software is now being finished too. IOTA holders will get good-looking functional applications within few months already.
What's more, special microprocessors will be presented soon.
Finally, IOTA has a contract with Microsoft Azure and few other major companies meaning they will be working on the coin development and promotion altogether.
Currently there are all the reasons to expect positive changes with IOTA. Everyone who is interested in cryptocurrency can see that the situation is evolving and goes in the right direction.
Connection to the Internet of Things
Finally we came to the operation principle of IOTA. It is tightly connected to the well-known concept of the Internet of Things. The Internet of Thing is kind of the final step of the digital evolution.
Let's say, you buy a smart refrigerator which maintains the stock of products itself – it goes online, finds suitable food stores, picks the best prices and places an order. But how would it pay? Using owner's bank account could be unsafe, couldn't it? Hackers never sleep!
But what if the refrigerator pays with a specially developed digital coins – for instance, IOTA? IOTA coins have top-level protection from any hacking attempts and these are quite narrowly used for specific purposes only, therefore criminals will hardly be interested in stealing it too much.
In addition to this usual life example we also should mention that IOTA can be very useful in business and industry. Independent online cooperation between various industrial units already exists – the machines exchange information, request and send data. These actually do everything except for financial operations, but the Internet of Things concept assumes that computers and other smart devices will be able to make and receive money transfers as well.
From this point of view IOTA is a very interesting option. It is the first cryptocurrency of that kind and the only one which is functioning nowadays. We have no doubts regarding the future of the Internet of Things – it is just inevitable. Appearance of specific electronic money is inevitable too.
Where can I buy and sell IOTA?
We have written about soon appearance of IOTA on all major exchanges – luckily the coin is already available at some exchange platforms. If you want to purchase IOTA you may go to Ñ-cex, Binance and Bitfinex. Bitfinex is the first exchange service that believed in IOTA and made it available. You can both buy and sell IOTA at these exchanges.
At the moment a coin of IOTA costs 2,36 USD and it is a good time to buy it now – the coin has been growing with up-and-down fluctuations, and now it is at the lowest point for few last weeks.
One can also trade IOTA at www.iotaexchange.com – this is the authorized exchange website.
Please note that IOTA can be bought or sold only for USD, BTC and ETH at all the exchanges mentioned above.
How to store IOTA
IOTA can be stored in a special wallet at your PC. The wallets are also available for iOS and Android devices – please note that mobile wallets are still beta versions. Soon they are planning to launch the beta version of a web-based wallet. So the only 100% ready wallet is the desktop one.
Conclusion
As you may have understood from this review IOTA is still in the very beginning of its way. The coin developers looked far beyond and did their best to create a currency of the future. Right now IOTA does not have much practical sense, but what cryptocurrency does? All coins are mainly supported by demand and by the hopes of users for anonymous, fast and convenient financial operations.
IOTA can be considered as a very interesting long-term investment. Traders specializing in short-term investments will hardly decide to buy IOTA, but those who prefer investing for a longer period – 2, 3 years or more – can benefit a lot from having IOTA in their wallets.
Anyway, even if you buy IOTA and want to sell it, there are more and more places to do it. We highly recommend you keep an eye on IOTA as on any prospective cryptocurrency.
