IOTA Reports TWIN Progress With Global Trade Expansion

The IOTA Foundation said it made significant progress in expanding its Trade Worldwide Information Network (TWIN) during the second quarter of 2026, highlighting advances in blockchain technology, digital trade projects, and institutional adoption as it sharpened its focus on the platform.

In its quarterly report, the non-profit organization outlined milestones including the activation of the Starfish consensus protocol, expansion of trade-related initiatives in Africa and the United Kingdom, and organizational changes intended to support enterprise and government use cases.

The foundation, which develops the IOTA distributed ledger network originally designed for machine-to-machine transactions and Internet of Things (IoT) data integrity, said it had aligned its development, research, design, and product teams more closely following an organizational restructuring.

The changes follow an announcement by IOTA co-founder Dominik Schiener that the foundation would concentrate its resources on expanding TWIN rather than pursuing multiple independent initiatives.

According to the report, the foundation said it had shifted its focus toward scaling TWIN as a production-grade, compliant digital trade network. It added that the strategy marked a move away from developing general-purpose blockchain platforms in favor of infrastructure designed for the global economy.

The IOTA Foundation said it is prioritizing the expansion of TWIN, aligning its organization around building a production-grade digital trade network for institutional and government use cases.

Starfish Consensus Strengthens Network Performance

The most significant technical development during the quarter was the activation of the Starfish consensus protocol on April 23. According to the foundation, the upgrade is intended to improve network stability under real-world operating conditions while maintaining continuous operation even in environments with limited connectivity.

The organization also completed Protocol Version 29, which introduces additional security features for smart contracts. Development of Starfish-Speed was finalized during the quarter, with the project designed to reduce transaction latency across the network.

IOTA also reported progress on its P-COOL transaction flow, which is intended to improve network performance while reducing computing resource requirements. According to the foundation, testing showed the new approach required roughly half the resources used previously.

The report further stated that storage optimizations had reduced the active data footprint of network nodes by approximately one-third in testing environments. The foundation said the improvements were expected to lower long-term infrastructure and maintenance costs for node operators while making the network more efficient for developers.

The activation of the Starfish consensus protocol, together with Protocol Version 29 and P-COOL enhancements, is expected to improve network stability, strengthen smart contract security, reduce latency, and lower infrastructure costs.

Trade Projects Expand Across Africa and the United Kingdom

Beyond technical development, the foundation continued to expand TWIN’s role in international trade infrastructure.

Working with TradeMark Africa, IOTA advanced the development of a business and fee model for deploying digital trade infrastructure in Kenya.

Implementation also began on the ADAPT initiative, a collaborative project involving the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Secretariat, the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change, and the World Economic Forum. The initiative aims to establish digital identity, data-sharing, and digital payment capabilities, with initial deployments planned in Kenya, Nigeria, and Morocco.

The foundation also reported progress on the Trade Logistics Information Pipeline (TLIP). Version 1.3.9 achieved a 95% success rate across all active testing profiles, while document exchange channels between Kenyan government authorities were successfully validated through node-to-node testing.

In the United Kingdom, TWIN secured support from five organizations that signed a letter of intent for the International Supply Network. Additional integrations involving port authorities, freight forwarders, and trade organizations are currently being prepared.

Separately, the TWIN Foundation has announced plans to expand the platform to more than 30 countries by 2030. IOTA technology has also been deployed in Argentina as part of a government project supporting transplant processes.

The foundation continued expanding TWIN through trade initiatives in Africa and the United Kingdom, while advancing plans to deploy the platform in more than 30 countries by the end of the decade.

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