What could affect the price of IOTA?

IOTA is balancing between growing real-world use and challenges in the market.

1. Institutional Access – BitGo custody service opens doors for U.S. institutional investors
2. Trade Digitization – ADAPT program aims to digitize $70 billion in African trade by 2035
3. Cross-Chain Connections – LayerZero integration links IOTA with 150+ blockchain networks

In-Depth Look

1. Institutional Access Expands (Positive for IOTA)

What’s happening:
BitGo, a regulated custody provider, started supporting IOTA in December 2025. This service helps U.S. institutions securely store IOTA in a way that meets legal requirements. It also allows over-the-counter (OTC) trading and borrowing through BitGo’s platform.

Why it matters:
When big investors can safely hold IOTA, it can lead to more stable prices because they tend to hold assets longer. Similar custody services, like Coinbase Custody, have previously increased liquidity and trust in digital assets. BitGo currently manages over $117 billion in crypto assets, showing its strong presence in the market.

2. ADAPT Trade Pilot Progress (Mixed Outlook)

What’s happening:
IOTA is partnering with the African Continental Free Trade Area to digitize $70 billion worth of trade by 2035. Pilot programs in Kenya and Ghana (2025-2026) are using IOTA to verify trade documents and handle payments with USDT (a stable digital currency).

Why it matters:
If successful, this real-world use could create steady demand for IOTA based on its utility. However, the project’s success depends on cooperation between governments and businesses. Early tests have reduced processing times from weeks to hours, but expanding this will require more validators (currently 73 nodes) to support the network.

3. Cross-Chain Connectivity Grows (Positive but With Risks)

What’s happening:
In December, IOTA integrated with LayerZero, a technology that connects it to Ethereum, Solana, Cosmos, and over 150 other blockchain networks through more than 550 asset bridges. This opens the door for decentralized finance (DeFi) applications using IOTA.

Why it matters:
This broad connectivity could attract developers building apps for international trade and finance. However, it also introduces risks from potential security issues in cross-chain bridges. Competing blockchains like Hedera already handle over 10,000 transactions per second (TPS), while IOTA claims 50,000 TPS but still needs to prove this under real-world conditions.

Summary

IOTA’s future price depends on turning African trade pilots into ongoing network use while managing cautious interest from institutional investors. Technical indicators show the asset is oversold (RSI 29.26), but momentum remains weak (MACD divergence).

Key to watch: Will the ADAPT program expand beyond Kenya and Ghana in 2026 and show clear growth in on-chain transactions?

What are people saying about IOTA?

The IOTA community is divided between optimistic trading opportunities and cautious long-term outlooks. Here’s the latest:

1. Traders are reporting over 100% gains on IOTA futures despite its ongoing price decline
2. New institutional access through BitGo raises hopes for wider adoption in the U.S.
3. Low developer activity raises questions about the impact of the upcoming Rebased upgrade

In-Depth Look

1. @Criptoprime0: "101% profit on IOTA futures" 🔥

"IOTA is looking very bullish 💴👌 Binance Futures Take-Profit target 3 ✅ Profit: 101% 📈"
– @Criptoprime0 (2.2K followers · 36.9K impressions · Dec 23, 2025)
View original post
What this means: This shows strong short-term price swings that traders are trying to capitalize on using futures contracts. However, these claims often lack clear proof and may reflect hype rather than solid market fundamentals.

2. @iota: "Interoperability upgrade via LayerZero" 🛠️

"IOTA now connects to over 150 blockchains through LayerZero Core, enabling cross-chain value transfers"
– @iota (294K followers · 918K+ impressions · Dec 3, 2025)
View original post
What this means: This is a positive development that improves IOTA’s ability to work with other blockchain networks. Still, with a total value locked (TVL) of $36 million as of August 2025, IOTA remains much smaller than many competitors, raising questions about how widely it’s being used.

3. BitGo Partnership: "U.S. institutional gateway" 🏦

BitGo now provides compliant custody services for IOTA, removing previous hurdles for regulated U.S. investors (Published Dec 10, 2025)
What this means: This is a promising step for long-term growth. Access to regulated custody could attract institutional investors, although IOTA’s 48% price drop over the past 90 days shows some market skepticism about immediate gains.

Conclusion

Opinions on IOTA are mixed. Traders see opportunities for short-term rebounds through derivatives, while others wait for stronger signs of institutional adoption and ecosystem growth. Keep an eye on whether the BitGo partnership leads to increased trading volume (currently $9.23 million in 24 hours) or if it triggers a “sell the news” reaction. Given that IOTA is down 75% year-over-year, there are still significant risks ahead.

What is the latest news about IOTA?

IOTA is making moves to boost its use in institutional finance and African trade, while also preparing for upcoming changes in European Union policies. Here’s a quick summary of the latest developments:

1. ADAPT Trade Pilot Launch (December 16, 2025) – IOTA’s new program in Africa aims to reduce trade costs by 30%, starting with pilot projects in Kenya and Ghana this year.
2. BitGo Institutional Support (December 10, 2025) – U.S. financial institutions can now securely hold and trade IOTA through BitGo, a custodian insured for $250 million.
3. LayerZero Integration (December 3, 2025) – IOTA now connects with over 150 blockchains, allowing seamless transfer of assets and data across different networks.

In-Depth Look

1. ADAPT Trade Pilot Launch (December 16, 2025)

What’s happening:
The IOTA Foundation teamed up with the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) and the World Economic Forum to launch ADAPT, a program designed to digitize trade across 55 African countries. Early tests in Kenya and Rwanda cut the time to process trade documents from several hours down to just 30 minutes. The goal is to create $70 billion in new trade value by 2035.

Why it matters:
This is a big step for IOTA because it shows real-world use in fast-growing markets. Making cross-border trade easier and cheaper could increase demand for IOTA’s feeless transactions and secure data verification tools. Still, the program’s success depends on how well it can work with existing regulations and older systems.
(Source: CoinMarketCap)

2. BitGo Institutional Support (December 10, 2025)

What’s happening:
BitGo, a trusted custodian managing over $117 billion in assets, now supports IOTA on its main network. This means regulated U.S. institutions can safely store and trade IOTA, with access to services like over-the-counter (OTC) trading and compliance tools.

Why it matters:
This opens the door for more institutional investors to get involved with IOTA, removing previous barriers around custody and security. While this is positive for liquidity, IOTA still faces stiff competition in the U.S. from other established blockchain platforms and relatively low decentralized finance (DeFi) activity (total value locked at $9.76 million as of June 2025).
(Source: CoinMarketCap)

3. LayerZero Integration (December 3, 2025)

What’s happening:
IOTA has integrated LayerZero’s interoperability protocol, which allows it to connect with over 150 blockchains. Through Stargate Finance, users can now swap assets across different networks easily. This also enables developers to create applications that work across multiple blockchains on IOTA.

Why it matters:
This move broadens IOTA’s ecosystem and makes it more versatile. However, it faces strong competition from other interoperability-focused platforms like Polkadot and Cosmos. Key indicators to watch include the volume of cross-chain transactions and developer engagement after this integration.
(Source: IOTA on X)

Conclusion

IOTA is making significant progress by improving access for institutional investors through BitGo and pushing real-world adoption in African trade with ADAPT. The LayerZero integration also expands its technical capabilities. However, the upcoming launch of the digital euro in the EU (Source: Cointribune) could impact demand for cryptocurrencies focused on payments. The big question remains: can IOTA’s focus on trade logistics overcome these broader economic challenges?

What is expected in the development of IOTA?

IOTA is making steady progress with several key updates planned:

1. IOTA 2.0 Protocol (Q1 2026) – Completing full decentralization and improving security.
2. TWIN Foundation Expansion (2026) – Growing global trade infrastructure across Africa and Europe.
3. Move VM Mainnet Upgrade (Q2 2026) – Enhancing smart contract capabilities and developer tools.
4. Institutional Staking Products (H1 2026) – Launching regulated staking options after integrating BitGo custody.

Deep Dive

1. IOTA 2.0 Protocol (Q1 2026)

Overview: IOTA 2.0 will remove the current coordinator system and replace it with a flexible group of validators, aiming for over 200 participants (IOTA Foundation). This update also introduces sharding, which helps the network handle more transactions at once, and adds quantum-resistant security features.
What this means: This is a positive step for making the network more secure and appealing to large institutions. However, delays in recruiting enough validators could slow down progress.

2. TWIN Foundation Expansion (2026)

Overview: After launching in May 2025, the Trade Worldwide Information Network (TWIN) plans to connect more than 15 national trade hubs by 2026. The focus is on digitizing customs processes and improving environmental, social, and governance (ESG) reporting (Crypto.News). Pilot programs in Kenya and the European Union will expand to Southeast Asia.
What this means: This could increase IOTA’s real-world use, which is good for adoption. Still, political challenges might limit how fast it grows.

3. Move VM Mainnet Upgrade (Q2 2026)

Overview: The Move Virtual Machine upgrade will allow the network to process multiple transactions at the same time and support smart contracts compatible with Ethereum. This will reduce transaction times to under one second (IOTA GitHub).
What this means: This upgrade should attract more developers and support decentralized finance (DeFi) projects. However, competition from other blockchains like Solana and Ethereum Layer 2 solutions remains strong.

4. Institutional Staking Products (H1 2026)

Overview: Building on BitGo’s custody integration from December 2025, IOTA will offer regulated staking products aimed at pension funds and corporate investors.
What this means: This could improve liquidity and price stability for IOTA, but it depends on clear U.S. regulations for cryptocurrencies.

Conclusion

IOTA’s roadmap balances important technical improvements (IOTA 2.0, Move VM) with practical infrastructure projects (TWIN) and efforts to bring in institutional investors. The success of these plans depends on achieving full decentralization without slowing down the network and turning pilot projects into profitable operations. The big question is whether IOTA’s focus on digitizing trade will help it outpace other Layer 1 blockchains in gaining enterprise adoption.

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What updates are there in the IOTA code base?

IOTA’s software has received major updates aimed at improving scalability, compatibility with other blockchains, and tools for developers.

1. Starfish Consensus (September 10, 2025) – An experimental protocol designed to speed up how blocks are shared across the network.
2. Mainnet Node v1.4.1 (August 14, 2025) – Increased decentralization and transaction capacity through a new sequencer system.
3. IOTA Identity v1.6-beta (May 26, 2025) – A flexible framework for building secure, ready-to-use digital identity solutions.

Deep Dive

1. Starfish Consensus (September 10, 2025)

Overview: The Mainnet v1.6.1 release introduced the Starfish consensus protocol, which separates the sharing of block headers from the actual data. This helps reduce delays, especially when the network faces challenges like attacks or slow connections.

What this means: This is a positive development for IOTA because it could make the network more reliable and speed up transaction finalization. These improvements are important for business uses such as supply chain management or Internet of Things (IoT) applications. However, this protocol is still being tested and is not yet active on live networks.

2. Mainnet Node v1.4.1 (August 14, 2025)

Overview: Protocol Version 10 increased the number of validator nodes from 50 to 80 and introduced IIP-3, a more efficient method for ordering transactions (IOTA tweet).

What this means: These changes make the network more decentralized and increase the number of transactions it can handle at once. This addresses past concerns about IOTA’s ability to scale. Users will experience faster transaction confirmations, and developers will have a stronger foundation for building decentralized applications (dApps).

3. IOTA Identity v1.6-beta (May 26, 2025)

Overview: This update unified the application programming interfaces (APIs) across Rust and WebAssembly (WASM), added support for multiple controllers managing identities, and improved key management (Source).

What this means: This update makes it easier to create compliant digital identity solutions, useful for areas like supply chains or Know Your Customer (KYC) processes. However, developers will need to update their existing implementations to take advantage of these improvements.

Conclusion

IOTA’s recent updates focus on making the network more scalable, ready to work with other blockchains, and equipped with enterprise-level tools. While the Starfish consensus and increased validator nodes show technical progress, the real test will be how these upgrades translate into actual use. How will IOTA’s improved transaction capacity and partnerships with institutions like BitGo affect developer engagement and network activity in 2026?

Why did the price of IOTA go up?

IOTA (IOTA) increased by 2.40% in the past 24 hours, bucking its recent downward trends of -5.35% over the last week and -27.20% over the past month. This gain slightly outperformed the overall cryptocurrency market, which rose 0.69% in the same period. The boost came from new strategic partnerships and positive technical signals.

1. Expanded Institutional Access – Integration with BitGo now allows U.S. institutions to securely hold and trade IOTA.
2. Progress on ADAPT Program – Pilot projects for African trade are set to launch in 2025.
3. Technical Bounce from Oversold Levels – The Relative Strength Index (RSI) at 29 indicates increased short-term buying interest.

Deep Dive

1. Institutional Access via BitGo (Positive Outlook)

Overview: On December 10, IOTA partnered with BitGo, a regulated custody provider, enabling U.S. institutional investors to hold and trade IOTA in compliance with regulations (BitGo).

Why it matters: This partnership removes a major obstacle for institutional investors, improving market liquidity and credibility. BitGo offers $250 million in insurance coverage and access to an over-the-counter (OTC) trading desk, which lowers perceived risks and encourages more capital to flow into IOTA.

What to watch: Look for increased trading activity on BitGo-supported exchanges like Upbit, which recently relisted IOTA on December 5 after updating its wallets.

2. ADAPT Trade Efficiency Program (Positive Outlook)

Overview: The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) confirmed that ADAPT pilot programs will launch in Kenya, Ghana, and a North African country by late 2025. These pilots aim to reduce trade costs by 30% using IOTA’s blockchain technology (Kanalcoin).

Why it matters: This initiative highlights IOTA’s real-world use case potential, as it could handle millions of transactions daily. Previous tests showed that document processing times were cut from hours to just 30 minutes, demonstrating IOTA’s ability to scale for cross-border trade.

What to watch: Confirmation of pilot start dates and early transaction data expected in the first quarter of 2026.

3. Technical Rebound from Oversold Levels (Mixed Outlook)

Overview: On December 24, IOTA’s 14-day Relative Strength Index (RSI) dropped to 29.26, signaling an oversold condition (typically RSI ≤ 30). This triggered buying from both algorithmic traders and retail investors. However, the price still remains below a key resistance level at the 30-day Simple Moving Average (SMA) of $0.0997.

Why it matters: Short-term traders took advantage of the low prices, but the 24-hour trading volume of $9.17 million (down 24% from the previous day) indicates cautious market sentiment. The MACD histogram value (-0.0000937) suggests that bearish momentum is weakening but has not yet reversed.

Conclusion

IOTA’s recent price increase reflects a combination of institutional developments, promising African trade use cases, and technical buying after oversold conditions. However, the overall trend remains downward, with resistance near the 7-day SMA at $0.0865.

Key point to watch: Can IOTA maintain its price above the pivot point of $0.0833? Falling below this level could lead to a retest of the December 24 low at $0.0817. On the other hand, ongoing updates from the ADAPT program and BitGo partnership may support a recovery rally toward $0.09.