This edition of the newsletter analyses IOTA and how it has evolved from a feeless, DAG into a programmable, multi-VM settlement layer through IOTA Rebased, which integrates Move-based smart contracts directly on L1 and replaces the old UTXO ledger with an object model. It includes a pragmatic pivot that includes integrating MoveVM, adopting delegated PoS, and maintaining its existing EVM roll-up, with mainnet launch scheduled for late April to early May 2025. We'll also share some interesting articles, portfolio updates and market highlights.
a) AI Friends Are a Good Thing, Actually
• Rex argues that AI companions can serve as valuable supplements to human connection, particularly for vulnerable populations experiencing loneliness such as the elderly, children, and those with social anxiety.
• The author proposes that while human connection is ideal, AI friends can fill gaps where human connection is missing, addressing what the Surgeon General has identified as a serious loneliness epidemic where one in two US adults report feeling lonely regularly, 61% of young adults report feeling "seriously lonely," and 25% of Americans report having no confidant.
The Argument for AI Companionship
b) EVM vs RISC-V: The Battle for Ethereum’s Future Execution Engine
• Vitalik Buterin has proposed replacing the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) with RISC-V, an open-standard, register-based architecture, to potentially achieve up to 100x efficiency gains, particularly in zero-knowledge proof generation, while enhancing developer tooling and future-proofing Ethereum's execution layer.
• The transition would maintain compatibility with existing EVM contracts through a dual-VM approach, but requires significant engineering to ensure security, interoperability, and ecosystem adoption, positioning RISC-V as a long-term upgrade for Ethereum's scalability and performance.
c) Can Kaito 'Yaps' avoid the curse of Goodhart’s law?
• The article discusses how Kaito's "Yaps" metric for measuring crypto content quality risks falling victim to Goodhart's Law, which states that when a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be an effective measure, as demonstrated by similar patterns with Facebook likes, YouTube watch times, and academic citation metrics.
• The author analyzes this phenomenon through three frameworks—Regressional, Extremal, and Adversarial Goodhart—explaining how metrics initially designed to measure quality eventually become gamed and lose their effectiveness when they're tied to rewards like airdrops or prestige.
"When a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure" - Charles Goodhart
a) Polymer Labs
• Polymer Labs, an Ethereum L2 interoperability protocol, leverages its Prove API to simplify cross-chain app development by generating merkle proofs for validating rollup state data.
• This aligns with their mission to enhance Ethereum's scalability through partnerships with Optimism and EigenLayer, using the IBC protocol for seamless cross-chain communication without bridges.
b) Solv Protocol
• SolvBTC.BERA is concluding its Boyco Pre-Deposit Campaign on May 6, 2025, with rewards being airdropped to participants based on their holdings and staking duration.
• The platform is transitioning to a Proof of Liquidity (PoL) strategy designed to deliver sustainable yields within Berachain's DeFi ecosystem, with all yields being converted into SolvBTC and distributed at the end of each month.
SolvBTC.BERA has empowered Bitcoin holders to engage with Berachain's DeFi ecosystem, starting with the Boyco Pre-Deposit Campaign. As of May 6, 2025, the Boyco campaign will officially conclude...
c) Thala Labs
• Thala Labs introduced xLPT, a new product on the Aptos blockchain that leverages the DFA standard to automate staking and rewards directly at the token level, making it yield-bearing, transferable, composable, and boosted for enhanced DeFi utility.
• The accompanying image highlights these features, emphasizing xLPT's ability to integrate with platforms like Echelon Market and automatically update farming status during transactions.
d) KyberSwap
• KyberSwap Limit Orders enable users to set their desired crypto trading prices, automatically executing trades on-chain when the market price aligns with their target, all while keeping assets secure in their wallet until the trade is complete.
• This feature supports 14 chains, offers free order creation, modification, and cancellation, and integrates with the KyberSwap Aggregator for enhanced liquidity and better trade execution.
e) Sonic
• Integrated with Binance wallet (purchase Sonic eco tokens directly on the wallet)
• Upcoming Sonic Summit 6th May - 8th May 2025 (flagship event for hackathons and networking)
• 3 ecosystem projects listed on Binance Alpha on 1st May
Exclusive $S and Sonic Chain ecosystem asset airdrops are coming for active traders on the new Sonic Chain. Full details will be announced separately.A new batch
Vienna, Austria
May 6–8, 2025
soniclabs.com/summit
3 Sonic eco dApps on Nance Alpha today Sonic summit upcoming: https://x.com/SonicLabs/status/1897721930767385075
IOTA – From DAG Pioneer to Programmable, Multi-VM Settlement Layer
IOTA has spent a long time proving that a feeless, miner-free Directed Acyclic Graph (DAG) can function at production scale, and after the recent upgrades it is now accelerating its roadmap with IOTA Rebased, a DAO/community-voted shift that places (programable) Move-based smart contracts directly on L1 and replaces the old UTXO ledger with an object model inspired by Sui.
Why “Rebased” and Why Move
Rather than wait for the research-heavy IOTA 2.0, the recent governance vote endorsed a pragmatic pivot: integrate a MoveVM L1 and adopt a delegated PoS --> mainnet scheduled to launch late April to early May 2025, giving IOTA a realistic, near-term route to decentralised smart contracts.
Move treats every asset (NFT, tokens, smart contracts) as an object with explicit ownership; this design eliminates the global shared state that constrains the EVM, allows parallel execution of non-conflicting transactions and removes whole classes of exploits such as unlimited allowances or re-entrancy. On IOTA Rebased the object-centric DAG runs Mysticeti BFT under a dPoS validator set of up to 150 nodes, delivering sub-second finality and throughput while ensuring a 10-15% staking yield funded by a controlled 6% token inflation schedule in which all transaction fees are burned.
Dual VM Advantage
Because the existing IOTA EVM roll-up remains online, Solidity teams can port their dApps across without rewriting contracts, while the Move stack attracts a rapidly growing pool of developers --> this makes IOTA the only public network where the 2 (developer) communities can share the same base ledger and liquidity.
Real World Partnerships
With regards to real world application of the network, The Trade & Logistics Information Pipeline in Kenya has already cut export-clearance times from 25 days to 1 day by anchoring customs data on IOTA; Realize, regulated in Abu Dhabi Global Market, issued RBILL (tokenised short-term US Treasuries) directly on the Tangle; and participation in the EU Blockchain PCP is bringing digital product passports and decentralised IP marketplaces into pilot phase. These initiatives underline a thesis that IOTA’s feeless heritage, regulatory posture (ADGM foundation, Shari’a compliance) and new programmability are suited to asset tokenisation and supply-chain finance --> not just pure memes or on-chain speculation but applied in businesses and governments.
Eco Flywheel
A $10 million grants programme, a Tenity-run RWA accelerator, a 9-week APAC Moveathon ($150k in prizes) and the Business Innovation Program offering up to €100k per project all tie disbursements to measurable on-chain activity, creating a good incentive loop in which funding expands only when usage and fee burn expand as well and is a good start to onboard devs to the Iota ecosystem.
Roadmap
Research teams are already testing Starfish Consensus, which early simulations show sustaining 200k TPS with stable sub-second latency, while a fair-gas algorithm, dynamic validator entry during epochs and eventual L1 EVM compatibility are queued for iterative, governance-led deployment. Each upgrade reinforcing IOTA’s ambition to become a high-throughput, multi-VM settlement layer and the tokenomics will hopefully trend toward neutrality as network demand grows.
Conclusion
IOTA is no longer simply an “IoT DAG” or "Dino coin" from 2016; it is re-entering the market as a programmable, object-centric chain that offers both Move and EVM runtimes, a largely unlocked token supply with transparent inflation-offset mechanics, and a pipeline of real-world deployments that already move trade documents, T-Bills and identity credentials on-chain.
If the 2025 main-net launch executes as planned and they manage to continue onboarding devs + early enterprise pilots continue to scale, IOTA will stand out as a rare L1 that combines academic pedigree, regulatory groundwork and a clear distribution of developer incentives with the technical throughput required for genuine real-asset finance.
*Disclosure: Signum Capital holds positions in the aforementioned company. The information provided on this newsletter is for general informational purposes only and does not constitute professional nor investment advice.
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