IOTA Mainnet to Launch Rebased Protocol Upgrade in May 2025

IOTA is preparing for its largest network overhaul to date with the upcoming mainnet upgrade scheduled for May 5, 2025. The upgrade will transition IOTA to the new Rebased protocol, marking a full shift to decentralized consensus via a delegated Proof-of-Stake model. It introduces staking rewards with annual yields between 10% and 15%, Layer 1 smart contract support leveraging MoveVM, and reactivation of the IOTA EVM. In addition to enhanced decentralization and improved scalability—capable of handling over 50,000 transactions per second—the update integrates a fee-burning mechanism and the IOTA Gas Station feature to subsidize transaction fees. The initiative is backed by nearly a decade of research and includes the appointment of 50 initial permissionless validator slots, with plans to scale to 150, supported by entities such as the IOTA Foundation, Luganodes, Stakin, and Nansen. These advancements aim to foster real-world adoption and support applications in digital identity, supply chain infrastructure, and on-chain finance.