ChainCatcher news, according to the official blog, the IOTA Foundation has announced the launch of the IOTA 2.0 public testnet. This update introduces a decentralized Proof of Stake (PoS) mechanism, replacing the old coordinator-driven system, and eliminates the traditional Proof of Work (PoW) mechanism, enhancing scalability and reducing environmental impact. IOTA 2.0 aims to create a more secure, scalable, and environmentally friendly network, inviting the community to participate in testing and optimizing this process.

According to ChainCatcher news reported by CoinDesk, the distributed ledger IOTA will launch the IOTA 2.0 protocol upgrade in the fourth quarter and enhance the utility of its MIOTA tokens.IOTA will introduce programmable smart contracts on Layer 1; there will be no further development of the Assembly project or the issuance of Assembly tokens, with a greater focus on the general smart contract framework IOTA Chains. At the same time, IOTA will create a new ecosystem fund to achieve decentralized governance and support ecosystem development. This ecosystem fund will establish multiple community governance tools, committees, and entities to empower the community to help manage the ecosystem fund. Additionally, IOTA will implement a temporary token inflation for a period of 4 years, with an additional 4.6 billion IOTA tokens to fund this initiative.Furthermore, the Stardust hard fork is scheduled to be released on October 4.