Question 1

What is Irys?

Accepted Answer

Irys is a programmable data chain that places data storage and execution on the same Layer 1 network, and IRYS is the network's native token. Its key point is not merely writing data on-chain: IrysVM enables contracts to read stored data blocks and execute logic based on them, allowing data to become verifiable, composable input for applications.

Question 2

What is IRYS used for?

Accepted Answer

IRYS is the payment, staking, and settlement asset for Irys protocol-layer operations. Network activities such as data uploads, programmable data execution, and contract interactions are priced in IRYS; miners and validators also use it as collateral and receive protocol incentives in it. The whitepaper designs temporary and permanent storage pricing to be USD-pegged and recalibrates real-world storage costs annually. In other words, users ultimately pay in IRYS, but the pricing objective is to prevent storage costs from changing directly with IRYS price fluctuations; execution demand, storage duration, and data size still affect actual fees.

Question 3

Why do network participants need to stake IRYS?

Accepted Answer

Miners and validators must stake IRYS as bonded collateral to participate in consensus and data validation; this provides economic security that can be slashed if they act maliciously or fail in their duties. Token holders can also indirectly support network security through delegated staking and receive rewards according to their delegated share. Therefore, staking is not simply a lock-up feature: the network compensates participants who maintain consensus and data availability with block rewards and related incentives, while slashing risk aligns participants' economic interests with data integrity.

Question 4

What are IRYS's initial supply and TGE circulation arrangements?

Accepted Answer

IRYS has an initial supply of 10 billion tokens; the whitepaper expects approximately 2 billion tokens, or 20% of the maximum supply, to circulate at the token generation event (TGE). Initial supply and expected TGE circulating supply are issuance-arrangement measures, not the actual tradable circulating supply at any given time. The remaining allocations include categories such as the ecosystem, foundation, core team and advisors, airdrops and future incentives, liquidity and launch partners, and investors. Allocations for the core team and advisors, as well as investors, each have a one-year cliff, followed by three years of linear monthly vesting; these vesting arrangements affect when tokens unlock rather than changing the initial-supply measure.

Question 5

How is new IRYS issued?

Accepted Answer

Irys mints new IRYS in every block as block rewards to incentivize miners to maintain network security and data storage. The whitepaper sets an initial annualized issuance rate of approximately 2%, which halves every four years thereafter until reaching a terminal annualized issuance rate of 0.25%. This rule describes the source and declining pace of new issuance: higher early rewards are intended to bootstrap storage capacity and participation, after which block subsidies decline and the protocol expects to rely more on fees generated by network use for incentives. It does not represent a fixed return for holders, nor can it alone establish actual circulating supply or price changes.

Question 6

How does network use affect IRYS active circulation?

Accepted Answer

Network use creates two paths that affect active circulation: lock-up and burning. For data placed into the long-term or permanent ledger, part of the associated fee enters the protocol endowment to cover miners' future long-term storage obligations; because these tokens are effectively locked for the long term, they are no longer in active circulation. For programmable data or smart-contract execution on IrysVM, 50% of the associated execution fee is permanently burned, while the remainder compensates block producers. Therefore, more long-term storage expands the scale of endowment lock-up, and more execution activity increases the burn amount; however, the actual net effect of these two mechanisms still depends on concurrent new issuance, fee scale, and usage volume.

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