Ramazan Eles 
Recently, IOST made headlines by launching a new fund aimed at Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) developers, allocating a massive $100 million to attract talent to its ecosystem. But what exactly is IOST?
What is IOST Coin?
The blockchain landscape is rapidly evolving, with new developments emerging daily. Investors and crypto enthusiasts are eager to understand various projects, and IOST is one such project that’s grabbing attention. In this guide, we’ll explore what IOST Coin is, its future potential, and insights into the project.
Founders and Launch Date:
Jimmy Zhong, Terrence Wang, Justin Li, Ray Xiao, Sa Wang, and Kevin Tan / 2018
Blockchain: Proprietary blockchain
Maximum Supply: 90 billion
Circulating Supply: 18.7 billion
Market Cap: $280,055,550 (as of February 20, 2023)
All-Time Low: $0.001562
All-Time High: $0.13
Project Goal: Building a blockchain architecture tailored for secure and scalable decentralized services.
Use Cases: Applicable across the blockchain ecosystem.
What is the IOST Project?
Launched in January 2018 by a team led by Jimmy Zhong, IOST is an enterprise-level blockchain service. Zhong, a serial entrepreneur, had already founded tech ventures in both the U.S. and China before turning his focus to blockchain. Notably, during his university days, he sold a marketplace for student class notes for $40 million. Afterward, he returned to Beijing and went on to establish IOST alongside other ventures.
The IOST blockchain centers on providing a scalable, decentralized architecture for online services, positioning itself for mass adoption. Its consensus algorithm is built around Proof of Believability (PoB), a unique mechanism designed to enhance scalability while maintaining security. The platform allows decentralized applications (dApps) to operate with high throughput, processing thousands of transactions per second.
The project’s mission is to develop a decentralized ecosystem that supports secure, scalable online services, becoming the leading platform in this area.
How Does IOST’s Consensus Mechanism Work?
IOST operates on a Proof-of-Believability (PoB) consensus algorithm, which combines decentralized committee selection with a scalable infrastructure. Unlike typical blockchain consensus models where top-performing nodes are favored for block production, IOST introduces a unique system called Servi, which determines node eligibility based on more than just votes.
PoB ensures network security by setting a minimum threshold for block producer candidates. In the current version, this threshold is set to 0.02% of total network votes. Nodes that meet this voting threshold can participate in block production by submitting specific transactions.
The Future of IOST
Designed to be open-source, secure, and scalable, the IOST blockchain architecture is positioned to support future online services. These features are expected to play a significant role in the ecosystem’s long-term growth.
A great way to assess the potential of IOST is by comparing it to its closest competitors. In this case, Ethereum stands out as the go-to smart contract platform for developers. However, IOST also competes with other high-speed, scalable platforms like EOS and TRON, both of which have been widely adopted for decentralized applications.
To achieve its performance goals, the IOST team has implemented a next-generation blockchain architecture that includes technologies like the Distributed Randomness Protocol, Efficient Distributed Sharding, TransEpoch, Atomix, Proof of Believability, and Micro State Blocks.
What is IOST Coin?
IOST Coin is the native token of the IOST project. It is used for various purposes on the platform, including paying for goods and services provided by merchants and service providers within the ecosystem.
The token also plays a key role in paying transaction fees, executing smart contracts, and accessing shared resources like storage. Additionally, IOST is rewarded to network contributors who provide resources to the system.
In December 2017, IOST raised funds through a private token sale, accumulating 35,000 ETH (equivalent to $35 million at the time). The mainnet was launched in February 2019, and since then, numerous decentralized applications have been built on the IOS network. The IOST token treasury accounts for 35% of the total supply.
During the token sale in December 2017, 40% of the total token supply was sold across three phases, at a rate of 200,000/150,000/100,000 IOST = 1 ETH. This sale raised 35,000 ETH, with tokens priced at $0.004167 each.
10% of the tokens were allocated to the founding team, with the lock-up period ending in January 2019. Advisors and venture capitalists received 2.5% of the tokens, while strategic sales made up 5%. An additional 5% was allocated to community incentives, and 2.5% to the marketing team.
Where to Buy IOST Coin?
With a maximum supply set at 90 billion tokens and a circulating supply of 18 billion, IOST remains a highly traded cryptocurrency. In January 2018, 40% of the total supply was sold in an Initial Coin Offering (ICO), raising around $31.3 million worth of ETH at the time. IOST reached its all-time high of $0.1365 and hit a low of $0.001562.
IOST can be traded on major cryptocurrency exchanges such as Binance, Huobi, KuCoin, Gate.io, and Bithumb.
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