IOTA (MIOTA) is really running at the moment. The token is up just shy of 20% against the US dollar over the past 24 hours and this rises to close to 800% when you expound the timeframe out to a little over a month.

While IOTA as a term and a coin is generally pretty well known in this space, the actual driver behind the concept isn’t widely understood. However, in order to understand the potential of this one, it’s also important to understand exactly how it works and what the team over at IOTA is trying to do with the technology it’s created.

With this in mind, here is a look at IOTA with a description of what we expect will come next for the company and the token heading into the start of a fresh year.

So, here goes.

One of the biggest misconceptions about IOTA is that it’s a blockchain based technology. While it can technically be described as such, it’s actually based on a variant of blockchain technology called a DAG (directed acyclic graph). IOTA didn’t invent DAGs but it did invent its own iteration of a DAG called a ‘Tangle’ and it’s this Tangle that sets the company apart from practically every other in this space.

The Tangle doesn’t use blocks like a standard blockchain does (so, like that of bitcoin) and as such is a sort of block-less distributed ledger, which is scalable and extremely lightweight. Further (and perhaps most importantly) this sort of setup makes it possible to transfer value without any fees.

No fees means that micro-transactions are highly feasible (something that many suggested bitcoin might be great for but, as it turns out, it’s not) and with the potential for practically unlimited and instant micro transactions as delivered by and through the Tangle, the application of this technology to the Internet of Things (IOT) ecosystem is very easy to imagine.

So the reason that this token is rising right now is because the company just released a data marketplace application that demonstrates exactly how this sort of integration between Tangle and the IOT works in the real world.

Basically, the marketplace allows a practically unlimited amount of internet connected devices to communicate with one another and trade (in return for MIOTA) various pieces of data collected by one but useful to many.

Connected cars, for example, could collect information about the parts that keep the car running and can sell this data to automotive parts suppliers in real time. That’s just one of a huge number of possibilities, of course, but it’s quite a nice illustration as to exactly how this system could work in the real world and – just as importantly – how valuable it could be to each of the parties involved.

And it’s not just the cryptocurrency space that is recognizing this potential value. In line with the latest marketplace launch, more than 20 big-name partners have come on board including names like Microsoft, Bosch, Samsung, Fujitsu, Cisco, Orange and Daimler, all of which have very different but equally large potential applications for this technology that they are investigating on the back of this data marketplace launch.

All of these programs are still in beta, of course, and the program is a pilot one, but even if just one filters through to a commercial contract it’s going to strongly validate IOTA as a company and, just as importantly, its Tangle technology as a concept with a real-world viable use case.

Bottom line is this: It’s this commercial and enterprise activity that really makes IOTA one to watch. Many of the companies in this sector right now are touting the potential of their technology in terms of real-world application but IOTA is actually demonstrating it.

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Disclaimer: This article should not be taken as, and is not intended to provide, investment advice. Please conduct your own thorough research before investing in any cryptocurrency.