# IRYS

> Irys is a Layer 1 datachain that combines onchain data storage with EVM-compatible smart-contract execution, allowing contracts to access and process stored data.

- Canonical URL: https://iq.wiki/wiki/irys
- Categories: Projects & Protocols
- Tags: Layer1, Infrastructure
- Created: 2026-10-24T01:17:23.358Z
- Last updated: 2026-10-24T01:17:23.358Z
- Source: IQ.wiki — the world's largest blockchain and crypto encyclopedia (https://iq.wiki)

---

**Irys** is a [Layer 1](https://iq.wiki/wiki/layer-1) datachain that combines onchain data storage, verification, and smart-contract execution in one network. Founded in 2023 by Josh Benaron, it is designed to let contracts read and process data stored on the chain, a capability the project calls “Programmable Data.” Irys announced that its [mainnet](https://iq.wiki/wiki/mainnet) went live on November 25, 2025.[[1]](#cite-id-h95d0u8ngi)[[2]](#cite-id-gs8k8r24jw)[[3]](#cite-id-uxt81yctjx)[[4]](#cite-id-ecxwsep3ku)

## Overview

Irys is a live [Layer 1](https://iq.wiki/wiki/layer-1) datachain combining onchain data storage, verification, and smart-contract execution. Its EVM-compatible IrysVM provides the execution environment, while the protocol supports permanent storage and term-based storage. Programmable Data is designed to let contracts read and process stored bytes, but the native interface for those reads remains in development and is not live as of October 24, 2026.[[6]](#cite-id-mqug7yuunu)[[7]](#cite-id-ghhk2a7hp6)

## History

Irys grew out of Bundlr, a layer-2 data service for [Arweave](https://iq.wiki/wiki/arweave) that Benaron began building after leaving a computer-science degree program at age 19. Bundlr helped [Arweave](https://iq.wiki/wiki/arweave) increase from 15,000 to 15 million transactions per day over three years and eventually handled more than 95% of its data transactions, according to the Irys project profile. Benaron onboarded more than 300 projects and raised $3 million for Bundlr.[\[1\]](#cite-id-h95d0u8ngi)​

Irys was founded in 2023. It raised $10 million in an extended seed round in 2024 and a further $10 million in a Series A round in 2025.[\[1\]](#cite-id-h95d0u8ngi)​

The project announced its [mainnet](https://iq.wiki/wiki/mainnet) launch on November 25, 2025, describing it as the result of more than two years of work. In a July 16 post, Irys characterized its prior year as a “battle for attention” and the following period as a “battle to build,” saying it had continued product development while being quieter publicly.[\[4\]](#cite-id-ecxwsep3ku)​

On June 3, 2026, a developer update described a major post-mainnet software release. Asynchronous background storage eliminated upload backlogs during bursts, [block](https://iq.wiki/wiki/block) validation was reported about 20% faster, and VDF cycles shortened from roughly 1,200 ms to 970 ms. [Snapshot](https://iq.wiki/wiki/snapshot) export and import tooling allowed a new [node](https://iq.wiki/wiki/node) to load a portable snapshot and start validating in minutes rather than replaying the chain from genesis. The update also described reliability, observability, and release-process improvements.[\[8\]](#cite-id-ujeq1q8m55)​

### Aurora and Borealis Hardforks

Aurora and Borealis were Irys’s first two coordinated [mainnet](https://iq.wiki/wiki/mainnet) hardforks. Aurora activated on June 23, 2026, at 12:00 UTC. It introduced fixed-encoding V2 commitment transactions and closed new V1 transactions, enabling developers to construct, sign, and submit commitment transactions beyond Irys’s own tooling. Borealis activated on June 30, 2026, at 12:00 UTC. It routed all miner rewards to the reward address and added a commitment transaction for setting or changing that address without re-staking.[\[9\]](#cite-id-nj2t08naai)​

### Cascade Hardfork

Cascade activated on Irys [mainnet](https://iq.wiki/wiki/mainnet) on August 3, 2026, at 12:00 UTC, and was described as the largest protocol change since launch. It added protocol-level 30-day and one-year term storage alongside permanent storage; deep-reorganization recovery after network partitions, allowing rollback of up to 100 [blocks](https://iq.wiki/wiki/block) rather than requiring a full [node](https://iq.wiki/wiki/node) reset; and an extension of commitment-transaction expiry from 20 blocks to 24 hours. The hardfork also corrected the cost-per-GB baseline to reflect miners’ physical storage costs and included consensus-hardening changes.[\[10\]](#cite-id-znckesirh8)​

## Architecture

Irys combines storage, consensus, verification, and computation within one protocol rather than relying on separate storage and execution networks. Its white paper describes the chain as a system for ordering transactions and providing cryptographic proofs that stored data remains accessible. The network has separate transaction lanes for data uploads and execution, allowing data transactions to be submitted even when the execution lane is congested.[[3]](#cite-id-uxt81yctjx)

The protocol organizes data into ledgers, collections of data grouped by properties such as storage duration. Ledgers are divided into 16-terabyte partitions, a design intended to let miners use hard disk drives rather than requiring storage hardware with higher read speeds. The network plans capacity from uploaded data volumes and maintains empty standby capacity partitions that can be assigned as storage demand grows.[[3]](#cite-id-uxt81yctjx)

Irys describes its capacity model as horizontally scalable: [validators](https://iq.wiki/wiki/validator) or miners can join and prove that they continuously maintain assigned data partitions. The project also presents instant retrieval and storage priced at cost as design goals.[[1]](#cite-id-h95d0u8ngi)[[5]](#cite-id-cj4cskn4mw)[[2]](#cite-id-gs8k8r24jw)

The June 2026 developer update also described asynchronous background storage, faster [block](https://iq.wiki/wiki/block) validation, shorter VDF cycles, and snapshot export/import tooling for [node](https://iq.wiki/wiki/node) startup.[[8]](#cite-id-ujeq1q8m55)

### Storage and Data Availability
Irys offers duration-based storage and permanent storage. Its white paper describes terms ranging from short periods to a year or longer, as well as permanent retention; Cascade offers storage for 30 days, one year, or permanently. Cascade activated on Irys [mainnet](https://iq.wiki/wiki/mainnet) on August 3, 2026, at 12:00 UTC.[[3]](#cite-id-uxt81yctjx)[[10]](#cite-id-znckesirh8)

Thirty-day and one-year data is priced below permanent storage, kept on the same partitions, and served through the same gateway. It remains immediately downloadable for at least its full storage term. Users can extend term data or allow it to expire; after expiry, miners cease earning for proofs of that data and can release the storage, while the [block](https://iq.wiki/wiki/block) record of what was stored and when remains. A term guarantees a minimum storage duration, rather than specifying an instantaneous deletion time.[[10]](#cite-id-znckesirh8)

The V2 gateway attaches a cryptographic receipt to each retrieved piece of data, allowing the returned bytes to be checked against what was uploaded.[[10]](#cite-id-znckesirh8)

Data intended for permanent storage initially enters a short-term submit ledger. It is moved to the permanent ledger after the required storage proofs are received. The white paper describes a five-epoch submit period and requires proofs from ten miners for permanent data. If the data is not uploaded or the required proofs are not obtained before the period expires, the permanent-storage and ingress-proof fees are refunded.[[3]](#cite-id-uxt81yctjx)

Miners bring new partitions online by posting a pledge transaction. The protocol randomly assigns an unclaimed partition; a miner then packs and mines it. When a ledger needs more capacity, the protocol selects an actively mined capacity partition, with selection weighted toward partitions that have mined [blocks](https://iq.wiki/wiki/block). [Mining](https://iq.wiki/wiki/mining) a partition containing assigned data earns higher rewards than [mining](https://iq.wiki/wiki/mining) an empty capacity partition.[[3]](#cite-id-uxt81yctjx)

The protocol also defines procedures for miners leaving the network. A miner can request an orderly departure, after which replacement capacity is assigned time to synchronize the data before the original miner recovers its stake. Going offline before the timeout risks loss of the bond. In cases of disorderly departure, including double-signing blocks, the stake can be confiscated and replacement capacity assigned.[[3]](#cite-id-uxt81yctjx)

### Consensus and Verification

Irys uses a hybrid proof-of-work and [staking](https://iq.wiki/wiki/staking) design, called Useful Proof of Work and Stake (uPoW/S) in project materials and PoW/S in the white paper. Miners stake IRYS as [collateral](https://iq.wiki/wiki/collateral) and prove that they maintain assigned data partitions. The design ties consensus work to storage and data availability, while [staking](https://iq.wiki/wiki/staking) makes miners accountable for loss of data or other misconduct.[[1]](#cite-id-h95d0u8ngi)[[3]](#cite-id-uxt81yctjx)

The white paper describes a one-second verifiable delay function (VDF) that produces a seed for selecting deterministic random ranges from each miner’s partitions. Miners read 200 mebibytes per second per partition, divided into 800 chunks of 256 kibibytes, hash those chunks, and can publish a [block](https://iq.wiki/wiki/block) when their solution meets network difficulty and they hold sufficient stake. The design aims to sample every partition in full at least once per day.[[3]](#cite-id-uxt81yctjx)

The VDF-based read limiter is intended to keep partition read speeds near those of hard disk drives, limiting an advantage for miners using solid-state drives. Irys’s matrix-packing process encodes a miner’s address into each chunk so that replicas are specific to individual miners. Its two-dimensional packing design makes later layers depend on both the preceding segment and the corresponding segment in the prior layer, with the stated aim of making on-demand reconstruction require the full packing work.[[3]](#cite-id-uxt81yctjx)

When a data transaction is verified, its data is XORed into a partition for use in consensus proofs. An ingress proof consists of a Merkle root generated from transaction chunks and combined with a miner’s address; the miner signs the root with the private key associated with that address. The design is intended to show that the miner holds the data and a distinct replica. Permanent data requires ten ingress proofs.[[3]](#cite-id-uxt81yctjx)

## IrysVM and Programmable Data

IrysVM is the network’s [Ethereum](https://iq.wiki/wiki/ethereum) Virtual Machine (EVM)-compatible execution layer, and smart-contract execution is available. The white paper calls it an “EVM++” implementation because it proposes additional opcodes and precompiles that would allow contracts to access stored data. Under the project’s Programmable Data model, data is intended to be treated as an executable asset rather than a static payload: a contract could read selected stored data and use it in onchain computation. However, the precompile or native interface for contracts to read stored bytes remains in development and is not live as of October 24, 2026.[[1]](#cite-id-h95d0u8ngi)[[5]](#cite-id-cj4cskn4mw)[[3]](#cite-id-uxt81yctjx)[[6]](#cite-id-mqug7yuunu)[[7]](#cite-id-ghhk2a7hp6)

A programmable-data transaction is designed to specify which chunk range a contract may access. The white paper describes a range encoding that identifies a partition, chunk offset, and number of chunks, and proposes using EIP-2930 access lists to maintain compatibility with EVM tooling. A client software development kit can resolve a transaction or data-item identifier to its published location and construct the range specification using information obtained through a gateway.[[3]](#cite-id-uxt81yctjx)

[Nodes](https://iq.wiki/wiki/node) are designed to exchange programmable-data transactions and the requested chunks through a gossip network. A [node](https://iq.wiki/wiki/node) can validate chunks from its cache, from another peer, or from a partition it mines; for packed data, it unpacks chunks and checks them against the transaction’s Merkle root. Miners may wait for a propagation interval before including a transaction so that other nodes have time to receive and validate the requested data.[[3]](#cite-id-uxt81yctjx)

The white paper’s [testnet](https://iq.wiki/wiki/testnet) model proposed 30-second [blocks](https://iq.wiki/wiki/block) and estimated a capacity of 7,500 chunks per [block](https://iq.wiki/wiki/block) under specified network assumptions. It also described demand-sensitive base fees for programmable-data transactions and optional priority fees for inclusion. These figures and mechanisms are presented as design parameters in the paper, rather than as a description of all current [mainnet](https://iq.wiki/wiki/mainnet) settings.[[3]](#cite-id-uxt81yctjx)

The paper identifies onchain artificial intelligence, analytics, and automation as possible uses for programmable data, and proposes licensing and royalty mechanisms. Its roadmap describes an initial stage for exposing raw data chunks, followed by bundle formats that could allow contracts to parse data items or access selected items without loading unrelated chunks. Programmable Data remains in development and unavailable as of October 24, 2026.[[3]](#cite-id-uxt81yctjx)[[6]](#cite-id-mqug7yuunu)[[7]](#cite-id-ghhk2a7hp6)

## Tokenomics

IRYS is the network’s native token and is used for payments, [collateral](https://iq.wiki/wiki/collateral), and settlement. Network actions—including data uploads, programmable-data execution, and contract interactions—are denominated in IRYS. The token is also used for miner and [validator](https://iq.wiki/wiki/validator) [staking](https://iq.wiki/wiki/staking), and holders can delegate stake to earn a proportional share of rewards.[[3]](#cite-id-uxt81yctjx)[[5]](#cite-id-cj4cskn4mw)

The stated initial and total supply is 10 billion IRYS, with approximately 2 billion, or 20%, circulating at the token generation event. The white paper allocates the supply as follows: 30% to the ecosystem, 25.3% to investors, 18.8% to the core team and advisers, 9.9% to the foundation, 8% to [airdrops](https://iq.wiki/wiki/airdrop) and future incentives, and 8% to liquidity, market stability, and launch partnerships. Investor and team-and-adviser allocations have a one-year cliff followed by three years of linear monthly vesting; those groups do not receive unlocked [staking](https://iq.wiki/wiki/staking) rewards before their allocations vest.[[3]](#cite-id-uxt81yctjx)

The ecosystem allocation is intended to support applications, cross-chain initiatives, and partnerships and is to be held in a multisignature wallet with custodians. The foundation allocation is designated for development, risk assessments, audits, and related initiatives; the [airdrop](https://iq.wiki/wiki/airdrop) allocation is for contributors and future incentives. The liquidity allocation is intended for market makers and launch partners using centralized- and decentralized-exchange infrastructure.[[3]](#cite-id-uxt81yctjx)

New tokens are issued as [block rewards](https://iq.wiki/wiki/block-reward). The white paper specifies an initial annualized inflation rate of approximately 2%, [halving](https://iq.wiki/wiki/halving) every four years until reaching a terminal rate of 0.25%. The project’s token descriptions also state that annual [validator](https://iq.wiki/wiki/validator) and miner rewards begin at 2% and halve every four years.[[3]](#cite-id-uxt81yctjx)[[1]](#cite-id-h95d0u8ngi)

Irys’s published [tokenomics](https://iq.wiki/wiki/tokenomics) describe 50% of execution fees and 95% of term-storage fees as burned. The white paper’s earlier detailed term-storage model instead describes 95% of the term fee as directed to the treasury. Published pricing uses USD-pegged fee bands reviewed annually and specifies a $0.001 minimum fee per transaction.[[3]](#cite-id-uxt81yctjx)[[6]](#cite-id-mqug7yuunu)[[11]](#cite-id-fgxnbtpn0e)

Fees for permanent storage are assigned to the Irys Storage Endowment, a non-circulating pool intended to fund long-term data-retention obligations. The white paper describes long-duration storage fees as locked to support future liabilities.[[3]](#cite-id-uxt81yctjx)[[6]](#cite-id-mqug7yuunu)[[11]](#cite-id-fgxnbtpn0e)

The white paper’s fee model prices storage in relation to estimated hardware and operating costs. It describes temporary-storage fees being distributed among the [block](https://iq.wiki/wiki/block) producer, treasury, and miners storing the data; miners receive payment when the data expires. For permanent storage, the model includes storage and ingress-proof fees, with payments to proof submitters if the data is published and refunds if it is not.[[3]](#cite-id-uxt81yctjx)