On September 12, 2018, the IOTA Foundation released a much-awaited timeline for Qubic, the protocol that will enable quorum based computing on the tangle.

IOTA Aims for Relevance

Regarded by many as the keystone that will enable IOTA (MIOTA) to truly take its place at the foundation of the Internet of Things, a timeline has long been awaited. In typical IOTA reluctance to give deadlines, however, the timeline is divided into estimated percentage of completion, with no actual dates listed.

IOTA, currently the 11th largest project in crypto, is slowly maneuvering to set itself up at the core of the Internet of Things – a future where everything from cars to your fridge will connect to other Things in the world around them to seek and share information and engage in economic transactions without human input.

So basically skynet. To enable this future and enshrine itself as the protocol of choice as the space emerges, IOTA has ditched the traditional blockchain architecture used by most projects in crypto and opted for the Tangle, creating a feeless, miner-free protocol where transactions are confirmed by other users (and devices) wishing to make transactions of their own.

Quorum-Based Computations

Qubic is the protocol IOTA believes will enable the project to go from an exotic cryptocurrency to a platform that will connect the world like never before. It will enable the integration of oracle machines, smart contracts, and outsourced computations.

Which makes sense – purely as a cost-saving measure, we wouldn’t want every fridge to keep stock of the local shops and their inventory, but we might want it to inform you if you’re running low on fish and there’s a sale going on where you usually shop, or if your milk has reached its expiration date.

And because we can’t always trust everyone willing to share information with us, even if they charge for it, at the core of Cubic will be quorum based computation.

By creating a system where users and devices can request information or computations from multiple sources, or by sharing only parts of your sensitive data with different service providers, you will be able to build trust by eliminating it as a factor almost entirely.

No Hard Dates

The IOTA Foundation has historically not been very keen on setting themselves deadlines. The scope of their ambitions is gargantuan, but so are the obstacles in their way. The Foundation is constantly recruiting new people – they are hoping to reach 200 by the end of the year.

Even then, the 1.5 billion dollar network would be a very tempting target for any hackers in crypto, and the Foundation has made it clear their first priority is security (the whole reason for the controversial Coordinator), meaning even once development on any part of the project is deemed complete it must undergo extensive independent auditing and quality control.

And Qubic will be no different – with the new timeline the Foundation promise to keep us up to date as individual parts of Qubic are developed and fit together, but there will be no hard dates.