AMA Recap: Shaping the Future of Web3: IOST’s Rebrand, Vision, Innovation, and Community-Driven Growth
Questions from the host
Question 1: How does IOST resonate with the blockchain community and ensure its vision aligns with user expectations?
Blake: Great question! IOST’s vision centers around reliability and user empowerment. We’ve focused on building a platform that not only provides scalable and secure blockchain infrastructure but also prioritizes real-world usability. For instance, our network has processed over 930 million transactions with zero outages — a milestone that sets us apart in terms of reliability.
To ensure we resonate with our community, we’ve also designed our tokenomics with the users in mind, with 97% of newly issued tokens allocated to community incentives, staking rewards, and ecosystem development. This means our users are directly benefiting from the network’s growth.
Tools like PayPIN Rings further demonstrate our commitment to making blockchain accessible and practical for everyday use. These innovations connect traditional finance with Web3, empowering users to interact with the blockchain in a seamless and simple way. This ongoing focus on value creation ensures that our vision aligns with the expectations of our users, building trust and fostering a long-lasting connection with the community.
Question 2: What makes IOST’s staking program unique, and how does it ensure adoption among both crypto-savvy and non-crypto-savvy users?
Blake: With the upcoming rebranding, we’re upgrading our staking rewards system to offer enhanced benefits and align with long-term growth.
Enhanced Rewards System: The new system will reward users based on both staking duration and commitment, offering up to 4.5x multipliers for long-term participants. This encourages sustained involvement and strengthens the network.
User-Friendly Experience: Upgraded tools and features, like PayPIN Rings, make staking accessible to newcomers while providing advanced options for experienced users.
Ecosystem Alignment: Part of the rewards will fund DApps and infrastructure development, ensuring the IOST network grows stronger with community contributions.
This revamped approach ensures our staking program is more rewarding, accessible, and aligned with the goals of our rebranding effort.
Question 3: The team has recently started a lot of diverse initiatives. If IOST truly wants to achieve the goals IOST has set for the future, I believe it’s essential to bring in new, talented individuals. I’d like to hear your thoughts on this.
Blake: While we can’t reveal everything just yet, we’ve already brought on board some top talent and are actively continuing our recruitment efforts. Today, we’re joined by one of them, Hedy. Hedy, could you please introduce yourself briefly?
Hedy: I’m Hedy. When I first got in touch with Blake and the team, I was very impressed by how the team got such a solid foundation, and also, where the future is going is in line with my professional journey. I went to Harvard for my degree in CS. After that, I started to work. My professional journey includes invaluable experience at one of the world’s largest hedge funds, where I worked extensively on integrating real-world assets into scalable financial systems. Additionally, I’ve held key roles at the largest fintech and banking institutions in the U.S., contributing to the development and management of credit card systems that served over 40 million users. These experiences have equipped me with a deep understanding of how to bridge the gap between traditional and decentralized financial ecosystems effectively.
Background….At IOST, I have the privilege of guiding key strategies that drive innovation in Payment and Real-World Asset tokenization. Through initiatives like PayPIN Rings, I’m focused on delivering solutions that empower our users while shaping the future of decentralized finance.
Question 4: Based on recent announcements, there appear to be various initiatives in the Payment and RWA fields. Can we assume that this recruitment effort is related to those areas?
Hedy: Thank you for noticing, and you’re absolutely right — there’s a lot happening at IOST as we continue to innovate in the Payment and RWA (Real-World Asset) spaces.
As I said, I’m deeply passionate about bridging traditional finance and blockchain technology. With extensive experience in scaling payment systems and integrating real-world assets into decentralized ecosystems, I’ve dedicated my career to creating solutions that empower users while ensuring scalability, compliance, and trust.
At IOST, we’ve formed top-tier talent to strengthen these areas, specifically focusing on initiatives like our PayPIN Rings for seamless payments and AssetFoundry™ for compliant RWA tokenization. These efforts are part of a larger strategy to enhance user experiences, expand into high-growth markets like LATAM and SEA, and ensure IOST remains a leader in Layer 2 blockchain innovation.
I’m confident that with our strong foundation and the addition of promising builders to the team, we’re on track to deliver exceptional value to our community. We’re not just creating technology — we’re building an ecosystem that fosters innovation, inclusivity, and long-term growth.
Community questions
Question from FIREANT: I recall seeing details about additional token issuance in the rebranding announcement. Could you share more specific numbers regarding token issuance?
Blake: An additional 21.32 billion IOST tokens will be issued. However, these tokens will not be released all at once but will vest over a period of 5 years. The allocation is as follows:
97% for community growth
3% for the team
For detailed information about the allocation and vesting schedules for each category, please refer to the recently published Tokenomics article.
If your inquiry was only about the numbers, I hope this helps. However, if you’re looking for more details about our plans regarding this, please let me know.
Follow-up Question: What are the specific allocations for these tokens?
Blake: The allocation breakdown is as follows:
60%: Node incentives
20%: Staking drops
8%: PayFi community incentives
5%: Community developer grants
4%: Nexus DAO
3%: Team
Each allocation will vest over a period of 3 to 5 years.
Question by Devendra Pun: IOST is planning to release tokens equal to current circulating supply? Burning plan is a nice incentive, but doesn’t it dilute the market more?
Blake: There are so many tokens listed on exchanges right now that have a vested allocation. If you are worried about that part, you, in principle, shouldn’t invest in that newly listed token since they have a large number of tokens to be unlocked in a short period of time. However, when you believe and know what the project is about, you invest in them.
I understand it’s not a small amount, but we issue with a greater goal in mind — improving our ecosystem. Also, our new deflationary model will help enhance the ecosystem further, aligning everyone’s goals and finally achieving them.
Question by Devendra Pun: How about making IOST account free and easy to create, now it costs some IOST to create as far as I know? Wouldn’t it be easy and helpful to make it free to board more users?
Host: Dapps are developed by third parties that are not under our direct control, so our guests will unlikely be able to answer on their behalf.
Blake: Just as a heads-up, there is a site that offers free account creation, and you can visit it right now, which is https://donotclick.xyz/
After rebranding is conducted, you will be able to create an account for free from the L2 side of IOST for free, which I think will help increase our usability.
Multiple questions from 흥자a:
1. To what extent have IOST’s Web3 payment infrastructure goals been achieved?
Hedy: We are still in a very early stage, so I don’t want to overshare and create confusion by announcing products before we are fully ready. What I can disclose is that we are already bringing initiatives, including decentralized payments and physical infrastructure — Paypin- that meet all the compliance instructions. Also, we are actively developing and working with strong ecosystem partners to get things ready to bring a surprise to our community. We have to be very careful when it comes to RWA-related development since any institution needs plenty of time to prepare. However, we can leverage our current resources and already meet the criteria, so we are wrapping up a few last steps to make sure our products are transparent and bring real value and growth.
2. How will the increase in distribution affect IOST’s short-term and long-term value?
Covered along the session
3. What markets are IOST’s global expansion plan specifically targeting?
Hedy: SEA, LATAM — i.e., Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, which are very crypto-friendly and other expanding and growing regions
Question from vipergti: IOST rebranding is moving towards a credit card payment and RWA. Will that raise security issues from the SEC?
Hedy: Important question. We prioritize compliance with all applicable regulation frameworks. Our approach has always been guided by official frameworks in the market, either crypto or regulatory best practices. As some of the government changes, the regulatory space might be dynamic, so we are always actively following the rulings.
Long story short: While I don’t think we are at the stage where we must be overly precautious yet, I don’t want to comment too much on the specifics at this point. What I can assure you is that our primary goal is to build a secure, scalable, and compliant ecosystem that aligns with the evolving regulatory landscape. We continue to work very transparently with our stakeholders to ensure all advancements are fully aligned with guidance from relevant authorities. I encourage everyone to follow our official channels to get the latest updates!
Question by Devendra Pun: Can Blake explain the part where long-time stakers will rewarded 5x or something as staking rewards are paid by node runners? How does it work?
To be fully transparent, we are currently working on that article right now, and we plan to publish it soon. Please wait patiently for some days, and you will get a detailed document on this matter.
Closing remarks
Blake:
Please read our content. We are preparing a lot of things right now, and the articles explain almost everything about rebranding and new direction. However, if you still have any questions, please join our next AMA session, as there are two more to come.
It’s really late in East Asia, yet so many listeners from there joined us today. Thank you so much! Please stay tuned as we prepare for a lot of exciting things that are coming ahead.
Hedy:
These two days have been a little negative, market-wise. However, regardless of how markets may shift, our vision at IOST is anchored in creating sustainable growth and real-world utility. I just wanted to ask everyone to please stay tuned while we are shifting towards are positive market, I hope very soon!
AMA Recap: Shaping the Future of Web3: IOST’s Rebrand, Vision, Innovation, and Community-Driven… was originally published in IOST on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.
