Cryptopedia - IOTA

## What Is IOTA? IOTA is a distributed ledger technology (DLT) with an open-source product suite for individuals, businesses, and institutions in Web3. Founded in 2015, it enables low-fee, permissionless value and data transfer on a scalable, decentralized network. As a pioneer in using a Directed Acyclic Graph (DAG) in the DLT and blockchain space, IOTA stands out as one of the first networks to integrate the Move programming language — a language specifically designed for secure and predictable digital asset management. IOTA’s architecture blends a DAG-native consensus mechanism with an object-centric ledger model, enabling advanced programmability through Move smart contracts. Unlike traditional blockchains, IOTA's DAG structure immediately includes transactions into blocks that reference previous blocks. This creates a causal architecture where each new block acknowledges the current ledger state. It removes the need for a shared mempool and eliminates any leader role for block proposals. As a result, IOTA enables low-latency confirmations, high throughput, and parallel block proposals — key features for decentralized finance (DeFi), where fairness and speed are essential, and for supply chain systems that demand scale, traceability, and minimal transaction costs. To learn more about how IOTA works, read our deep dive into DAG architecture and smart contracts.