IOTA Bets Big on $35T Trade Sector With ‘World Onchain’ Manifesto

The IOTA Foundation has published a sweeping manifesto outlining its strategy to become the primary blockchain infrastructure for global trade—a $35 trillion annual market the project claims remains largely untapped by competing networks. IOTA traded at $0.0914 on January 22, up 5.96% in 24 hours, with a market cap of $389 million.

The manifesto, authored by IOTA leadership, marks a definitive pivot away from competing in what the foundation calls “saturated crypto niches.” Instead, IOTA is pursuing what it describes as a “Blue Ocean” strategy—creating new market space rather than fighting for existing DeFi or payments territory.

TWIN Goes Live on Mainnet

The centerpiece of IOTA’s trade ambitions is TWIN (Trade Worldwide Information Network), which went fully live on the IOTA mainnet in early January 2026. The platform replaces paper-based trade documentation with tokenized, verifiable digital records.

According to the manifesto, TWIN is already operational in Kenya’s trade system for flower exports, with expansion to all commodities expected by end of Q1. In the UK, the Cabinet Office piloted TWIN for over 2,000 poultry consignments from Poland throughout 2024-2025. Four UK government employees have been seconded to IOTA to expand these trials.

The foundation projects adoption in 30+ countries by 2030, with pilots launching in at least five additional nations across Africa, Europe, Southeast Asia, and North America within the next 12 months.

The Trade Finance Gap

IOTA’s thesis rests on staggering inefficiencies in current trade systems. The foundation cites World Economic Forum data showing 4 billion trade documents circulate globally on any given day, with cost overhead reaching 20% per cross-border transaction. Banks lose $2-5 billion annually to forged or duplicated trade documents.

Perhaps most compelling for potential adoption: a $2.5 trillion annual funding gap exists in trade finance, where legitimate traders can’t access affordable capital because lenders lack visibility into shipment authenticity and collateral.

“Even just a 5% efficiency gain in global trade via digitalization will unlock hundreds of billions of dollars in economic value,” the manifesto states, citing WEF estimates that IOTA’s technology could reduce global trade costs by 25%.

Transaction Volume Projections

The foundation offers specific projections for network activity. With approximately 2.5 billion consignments shipped across borders annually and each generating an average of 26 IOTA transactions, digitizing just 1% of global trade would mean 650 million mainnet transactions per year—before counting digital identity issuance, product passports, or trade finance tokenization.

IOTA’s tokenomics are designed around this usage model. Transaction fees burn tokens, storage deposits lock them, and enterprise accumulation for network access reduces circulating supply. Current staking yields run around 11% APY.

Coalition Building

Unlike IBM/Maersk’s failed TradeLens platform—which the manifesto notes collapsed after hundreds of millions in investment due to conflicts of interest—IOTA operates through the non-profit TWIN Foundation and has assembled an unusual coalition of partners.

The Tony Blair Institute, TradeMark Africa, World Economic Forum, and the AfCFTA Secretariat have all signed collaboration agreements. The ADAPT initiative (Africa Digital Access and Public Infrastructure for Trade) aims to connect 1.5 billion people across all African nations by 2035.

Recent news from late 2025 indicated Africa is turning to stablecoins and IOTA to unlock an estimated $70 billion in new trade value through these partnerships.

What Traders Should Watch

The manifesto sets clear milestones: Q1 2026 expansion to all Kenyan commodities, five new country pilots within 12 months, and 30+ countries by 2030. Transaction volume on the mainnet—now trackable via public explorer—will provide the first real test of whether enterprise adoption translates to network activity.

IOTA’s bet is straightforward: become so embedded in trade infrastructure that it’s as invisible and essential as GPS or SWIFT. Whether a $389 million market cap project can pull off infrastructure at that scale remains the open question.

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