IOTA Achieves Coordicide, But Still Lacks A Working Product
IOTA has decentralized its network, but there's plenty of work still ahead.
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The IOTA Foundation yesterday announced a new mechanism that will radically overhaul how the IOTA network secures itself. Known as ‘Coordicide’, the new protocol will manage transaction security, without relying upon checkpoints from the IOTA Foundation.
The new Coordicide protocol is intended to decentralize the Tangle, which previously relied on a central “Coordinator.” The Foundation has released a white paper and website describing the new protocol, but the key take away is that IOTA has finally achieved one of its long-term goals.
“We have been working towards the removal of the Coordinator since IOTA’s inception,” said David Sønstebø, co-founder of IOTA Foundation. “Now with the maturity and growth of the protocol, and the quality of our research team, we are bringing that promise to fruition.”
He added, “With this major milestone, we are poised to accelerate into our next phase of growth and enterprise adoption in the real world.”
Coordicide Awakens IOTA Bulls
The news has been quickly picked up by most crypto news outlets, spurring on a sharp price rise in MIOTA. The market cap has increased by nearly $300M since the beginning of Tuesday, and token prices rose more than 20% over the following 24 hours.
What Happened To IOTA’s Big Partnerships?
The price rise comes shortly after a similar movement when details on a collaboration between IOTA and major car manufacturer, Jaguar Land Rover, were disclosed at the end of last month.
As Crypto Briefing reported at the time, the deal could allow drivers to automatically earn tokens – possibly MIOTA – as an incentive to share information with the manufacturer and local authorities on driving conditions and traffic. These tokens would be stored in a smart wallet in the car itself, allowing drivers to automatically pay for parking or tolls.
Although the Jaguar news appeared to be a sign of industrial adoption, the importance of the collaboration may have been overstated. In a blog post published yesterday, the Financial Times highlighted that, in reality, there was little serious development going into the initiative.
Last month’s press release, they allege, was a “last-ditch attempt” to create buzz in what was widely considered to be a “failed investment.”
That wouldn’t be the first time the Foundation had overplayed a weak hand. Crypto Briefing broke the news last summer that IOTA was actively collaborating with the German car manufacturer Volkswagen to incorporate the Tangle – the project’s DLT network – in a whole raft of new smart features available for drivers.
The first product, according to IOTA co-founder Dominik Schiener, would launch in early 2019. But as we approach June, there is still no news on any development.
During Paris Blockchain Week, Crypto Briefing asked Schiener if there were any updates on the partnership. Although Schiener confirmed that IOTA is still working with Volkswagen, as well as other European companies, he refused to provide any additional specifics.
While ostensibly still working together, the lack of any real news or updates could suggest significant delays, or even that the partnership has been mothballed.
Coordicide might well be a technological milestone for the IOTA team. But with no clear business use-case or forthcoming product, the project still has an uphill struggle in showing its relevance to an increasingly skeptical investor base.
What IOTA needs now, more than anything, is a viable product from one of its partnerships.
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