IOTA Guide: Quick Summary of IOTA

IOTA is a revolutionary new generation public distributed ledger that utilizes at its core an invention, called the “Tangle”. The Tangle is a new data structure (ledger) based on a Directed Acyclic Graph (DAG), which stores all transaction data of the IOTA network. This DAG is based on a graph without any cycles. Instead of a single branch, DAG has multiple. As such it has no Blocks, no miners and leads to a completely decentralized and self-regulating peer-to-peer network, that makes consensus an everyday part of the process.

Because of this infrastructure, you can already tell that IOTA works and is quite differently, compared to Blockchain cryptocurrencies. If you are new to Blockchain technology and want to learn about it so you can compare different technologies, read our detailed Ethereum guide. There you can learn the backbone of cryptocurrencies – Blockchain Technology.

The major difference is how IOTA achieves consensus and how transactions are made. As mentioned previously, there are no miners. This means that each participant in the network that wants to make a transaction has to actively participate in the consensus of the network by approving two past transactions. This validation of two past transactions ensures that the whole network achieves consensus on the current state of approved transactions. This enables variety of unique features that are only seen in IOTA for now. Proof of Work is used to prevent denial of service and spam attacks. The puzzle used by IOTA is Hashcash.

Another thing you can transfer is data through IOTA’s network. All data is fully authenticated and tamper proof, making attacks impossible. This makes possible for devices to establish a secure connection. IOTA is the missing puzzle peace for the Machine Economy to fully emerge and reach its desired potential. IOTA can be the public backbone for the Internet of Things (IoT) that enables true interoperability between all devices.

IOTA Guide: IOTA has a range of features that are uniquely enabled due to its architecture: