IOTA: Smart Contract Layer ASMB Second Staking Period Begins

IOTA has been frequently updating its developments recently. At the end of last month, it released the upcoming staking schedule, as well as the expected development timeline for the smart contract layer Assembly and Shimmer. At what stage of development does this staking mark for IOTA's progress?

Staking Event

According to the official blog, IOTA's second staking event is about to begin. By staking IOTA, participants can receive the native token ASMB of the future smart contract layer, Assembly, as a reward. The previous staking event at the end of last year distributed approximately 5.8% of the total ASMB tokens, about 5.8 billion tokens. There are still about 14 billion tokens left to be distributed out of the total staking reward pool of 20%, which is expected to be fully distributed within two years.

The staking rules state that for every 1 MIOTA staked, users will receive 0.000002 ASMB every ten seconds. Users must accumulate at least one ASMB in their wallet to be eligible for the airdrop. During the staking period, IOTA can be withdrawn at any time. Note: MIOTA is a commonly used trading unit for IOTA.

The staking event will officially commence on April 22 at 9 p.m. TST and will last for 90 days. To participate, users need to upgrade their IOTA official wallet Firefly to version 1.5.0, where they can find the staking button. Note: Currently, Firefly is only available in desktop version. Please be aware that Metamask does not support the IOTA mainnet.

What is Assembly

Due to the UTXO ledger structure and the unordered structure of Tangle, smart contracts are challenging to run directly on the IOTA base layer. Therefore, the official team has developed the ISCP framework to run smart contracts in a Layer 2 structure, similar in concept to Aurora by Near. Within this framework, they have built a smart contract layer specific to the IOTA mainnet called Assembly.

Anyone can create their own application chain on Assembly with customizable node requirements, transaction fees, virtual machines, programming languages, providing developers with greater flexibility. The virtual machine of Assembly supports various programming languages, including Solidity, Rust, TinyGo, and TypeScript.

Different application chains on Assembly can conduct zero-fee cross-chain transactions and achieve atomic swaps between chains, demonstrating the composability of chains. Therefore, Assembly can be seen as a Layer 1.5 of IOTA, where numerous customized application chains Layer 2 can be built on top of it.

Using ASMB as an economic incentive, Assembly decentralizes the smart contract layer, requiring every node on the network to hold ASMB to participate. Nodes that act maliciously may have a portion of their staked tokens confiscated, ensuring the security of Assembly.

In summary, the key advantages of Assembly include: flexible application chain structure, atomic cross-chain transactions, zero transaction fees, support for multiple language development, etc. Previously, Assembly has received a $100 million investment led by Huobi Ventures.

IOTA Development Roadmap

Last year, IOTA completed the Chrysalis mainnet upgrade, paving the way for IOTA 2.0 Coordicide, and preparing the IOTA codebase and tools for smart contract operations. Subsequently, they introduced a new architecture testnet called DevNet. At the end of last year, IOTA launched its first staking event.

Currently, IOTA is gearing up for its second staking event, and the testnet Shimmer and Assembly are expected to undergo testing and be opened to the public this year. Initially, Stardust, an upgrade to the smart contract layer, will be operational on Shimmer. Once Shimmer is running smoothly, Assembly will be launched on the IOTA mainnet, signifying that IOTA will indeed have a complete virtual machine functionality.

As blockchain modular architecture becomes mainstream in the future, IOTA will progressively develop new capabilities with a complete testnet architecture of DevNet, Shimmer, IOTA mainnet, and integrate Assembly to realize a multi-chain framework, forming a more comprehensive decentralized network and ecosystem for IOTA.

References:

• ASMB Airdrop Announcement IOTA Staking for Assembly Continues
• Future Roadmap Three Networks to Unite Them All