Small news items are currently dominating the day’s events at IOTA. We look at the finale of Assembly (ASMB) staking, the wait for smart contracts, and the finances of the IOTA Foundation.
After a mixed crypto year for IOTA in 2022, investors are hoping for striking progress in the ecosystem in 2023. One area of focus is Project Assembly (ASMB). Here, the IOTA Foundation alerts via Twitter that the fourth and final staking round for ASMB will conclude on February 5.
Those who hold IOTA and want to register them for the staking of Assembly must use the latest version 1.7 of the official Firefly Wallet. Actually, Assembly was supposed to see the launch of a mainnet in the past year like the second IOTA side project Shimmer (SMR), but at ASMB this plan did not come true. Instead, there were indications, including from the IOTA Foundation, that promised venture capital for Assembly would not flow and the entire project could be scrapped. At least the current commitment to ASMB Staking leaves room for speculation, inquiries about the status of Assembly, the IOTA Foundation unfortunately does not answer.
The IOTA Foundation is also silent on the financial situation. Most recently, Twitter user ThatsNotMyCode had observed massive IOTA sales, which he attributes to the foundation and suggests a rapid dwindling of reserves. According to ThatsNotMyCode, these sales continue unabated and would come to an end in about two weeks at the current pace – namely when IOTA reserves are depleted. It remains open, however, whether the IOTA Foundation is not holding other reserves or expecting grants to ensure funding for 2023.
In the development work for IOTA, the integration of the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) is currently the main topic. The EVM is proven standard for organizing smart contracts, opening the door to multiple application purposes. It will first be injected and tested at Shimmer before also coming to IOTA’s Tanglenet itself. But Foundation CEO Dominik Schiener still sees a significant need for testing, as screenshots from his discussion with the community show. Schiener does not want to commit to a target date for the introduction of EVM and smart contracts at Shimmer; another long wait seems realistic.
Conclusion: IOTA development backlog – when will the knot burst?
The overall crypto market is currently characterized by cautious upward trends and has given both IOTA and Shimmer a plus of around 40 percent since the New Year. Behind the scenes, however, the IOTA Foundation must be observing how inquiries about crucial projects such as the integration of EVM or the state of affairs at Assembly are becoming increasingly frequent. Because one thing is clear: IOTA is already lagging behind its own announcements again and new use cases need EVM as a basis.
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