[Blockchain 101] IOST Explained | What Is IOST?
4 min read · · Korean original
Contents 5
Hello! This is Bitpunk! Today we're going to look at our second coin, IOST. For reference, IOST launched its mainnet in February, and it has been running without any problems since then.
In IOST's case, the foundation announced a buyback in April. The idea is that it will use the excess profits from the investment it received to buy back IOST. You can find the details at this link.
IOST Foundation Embarks on Token Buyback Program with Excess Company ProfitsOff the back of strong profits exceeding internal company estimates, IOST will embark on a Token Buyback Program with excess funds.medium.com ↗1. What Is IOST?
IOST is short for Internet of Services Token, and it's also called the IOST coin. IOST aims to be an internet platform that can be used in everyday life, with a focus on scalability, efficiency and security. It was developed by a guy named Jimmy Zhong together with five co-founders.
The supply was distributed as follows. The total supply is 21 billion tokens.
- 40%: Token Sale
- 35%: IOST Foundation
- 12.5%: Community Building
- 10%: Team
- 2.5%: Investors and Advisors
The IOST coin is used on its network and determines a node's reputation score. When smart contracts are executed, nodes receive tokens for validating transactions and providing computing power.
2. Background and Purpose
For a while, the biggest problem in blockchain was scalability. If you look at Ethereum, the front-runner, it had issues such as excessive fees, slow transaction times, and transactions being processed according to gas fees. That's where IOST comes in. Its ultimate goal is to build a platform that can be applied to any application. It aims to provide blockchain services to everyone from individuals and small businesses to large corporations.
3. Key Features
Compared with existing blockchain structures and consensus algorithms, IOST has five distinctive features. Since this part is quite technical, we'll just briefly go over the two core ones.
1. Efficient Distributed Sharding (EDS)
This is a technology for processing large volumes of transactions at the same time. It groups nodes together so they can process things quickly.
2. Proof of Believability (PoB)
Let's look at the consensus method, which is arguably the most important part of any platform and coin. IOST uses Proof of Believability (PoB). Under this method, the higher your platform participation, coin holdings and community contribution, the more rewards you receive. It also measures each node's past contributions and assigns block data to nodes at random to prevent centralization.
In this way, trustworthy nodes are given the right to process transactions first. Meanwhile, regular nodes verify samples of transactions and provide verifiability. The purpose of regular nodes is to check that the trustworthy nodes are operating honestly. If a regular node catches a node acting dishonestly, that node loses all of its tokens and its reputation score goes back to 0.
Then there's something called Servi. Servi is another key element used to calculate a node's reputation score. You earn it by contributing to the community or by rating third-party services, for example. Unlike the IOST coin, Servi can't be traded or exchanged, and your Servi balance is reset to 0 when you validate a block.
4. Competitors
IOST competes with DApp platforms focused on scalability and serving individuals and businesses. Its competitors include platforms like Ethereum, EOS and NEO. Besides these, ICON, Lisk and VeChain are also aiming to provide blockchain solutions for enterprise customers.
5. Price Movement and Where to Buy
After the mainnet launch, trading volume picked up quite a bit from mid-March. The price is currently sitting at around KRW 19. You can trade it on Upbit or Binance. On top of that, you can earn dividend income by voting with your IOST. If you're interested, you can take a look on the official IOST website.
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