The IOTA Foundation’s unique protocol, the Tangle, has been making waves in the blockchain space as the team seeks to build a distributed ledger free from the challenges faced by traditional blockchain applications. Amidst entering into several high-profile research and development partnerships, the IOTA Foundation’s coin, MIOTA, saw incredible growth this past week, firmly cementing its place in the top five cryptocurrencies by market cap.

The Billion Dollar Club

Over the past seven days, MIOTA has been increasing in value, helping IOTA reach a market cap of over $2.3 billion USD, one of only ten cryptocurrencies to hold that distinction. After a bearish period following the launch of MIOTA on exchange Bitfinex, the coin experienced a period of significant growth, surpassing the previous all-time high.

Along with the price spike, MIOTA has seen an uptick in popularity thanks in part to a protocol upgrade along with the announcements of several significant partnerships including Refunite, Imperial College London & F6S, UCL & UC Berkeley, and Norwegian healthcare organizations. This increase in interest around the foundation and its coin is evident not only in the growing value but in trading volume. MIOTA recently surpassed Ether to claim the number two spot on Bitfinex for trading volume, second only to Bitcoin.

Growing Interest in the Tangle

The IOTA Foundation has been hard at work putting their protocol, the Tangle, to the test. The team started their project with lofty goals, to create a distributed-ledger based ecosystem devoid of transaction fees and absent the transaction bottleneck experienced by traditional blockchains, and is actively working to demonstrate the power of their platform in real-world applications. These partnerships and the continued improvement of the IOTA network inspire confidence in the Foundation’s roadmap.

Of the recent price surge, founder David Sonstebo told CCN.com:

I believe the rise in value can be attributed to the fact that more and more people realize that A) Blockchain has severe problems with fees and scaling, which IOTA solves and B) Unlike most distributed ledger projects, IOTA is focused on very real solutions and work alongside world leading companies and organizations on actual problems they are facing at the moment. C) More and more projects are publicly announcing their exodus away from Bitcoin/Ether and over to IOTA.

Thanks to a dedicated team of experienced entrepreneurs and developers, the Tangle is becoming a coveted technology in the growing Internet of Things and sharing economy industries, both with the potential to reach, or even surpass, internet-level valuation.

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