IRIS

IRISnet, also referred to as IRIS Hub, is a proof-of-stake blockchain built with the Cosmos SDK and Tendermint that is positioned as a technology foundation for distributed business applications. It is designed as a regional hub within the wider Cosmos network, connecting to the Cosmos Hub as a zone and interoperating with other zones over the IBC protocol. Beyond standard hub functionality, IRISnet layers service semantics into the network so that on-chain transaction processing can be coordinated with off-chain data processing and business logic execution, and it has extended IBC to allow cross-chain invocation of those off-chain services.

The chain exposes a broad module set documented for node operators and developers, including bank, coinswap, distribution, EVM, governance, guardian, HTLC, mint, MT, NFT, oracle, random, service, slashing, staking and software upgrade modules. Tooling covers mainnet and testnet participation, state sync, wallets, explorers, a hub monitor, a key management system, Ledger Nano support, CLI clients, Legacy Amino JSON REST, gRPC gateway REST and gRPC client endpoints, client SDKs, and EVM and native smart-contract development environments through ChainIDE.

The central abstraction is IRIS Services ("iService"), which mediates the lifecycle of off-chain services: definition via an Interface Definition Language file, binding in which a provider declares endpoint address, pricing and quality of service, and invocation covering consumer requests and provider responses. Network roles include providers, who implement service definitions and often act as adaptors to other public and consortium chains and enterprise legacy systems; consumers, who invoke provider endpoints; profilers, who act for the IRIS Foundation Limited and are the only parties authorized to invoke iService in profiling mode to build objective provider profiles; and arbitrators, self-declared users who collectively arbitrate consumer complaints about provider performance.

Business model

The network is operated as a public proof-of-stake blockchain with a native IRIS token rather than a conventional software sales model. Value accrues through network usage: token holders stake to secure the chain, users pay transaction fees, and service providers charge service fees. The IRIS Foundation Limited, a Hong Kong incorporated company limited by guarantee, takes the lead in building the network, and ecosystem work is funded and directed through on-chain governance proposals.

Fees are denominated in the IRIS token: transaction fees are paid for all transactions in the network, and service providers in the iService marketplace are required to charge service fees priced by default in IRIS. The network is intended to eventually accept all whitelisted fee tokens from the Cosmos network for transaction and service fees.

Traction

The project runs a public mainnet with published validator, wallet and explorer tooling. Its governance forum shows a continuing stream of proposals and milestone delivery reports from ecosystem partners, including FindTruman text-to-game and agentic creation engine grants, ChainIDE integration milestones, a HashKey DID multi-chain identity integration (Proposal #47), and discussions on Uptick marketplace ICS-721 use cases and a Hypersign zero-knowledge on-chain KYC integration.

Latest developments

Recent forum activity includes a signaling discussion of an IRISnet 3.0 upgrade preview (April 2024), DEPIN-RWA incubation service proposals (December 2024), a proposal to integrate Hypersign's zero-knowledge on-chain KYC (January 2025), a CLARITY Act compliance proposal and a community discussion on exchange listings (July 2025), a proposal to raise the governance proposal deposit requirement to 100,000 IRIS to deter spam (June 2025), and milestone delivery reports for FindTruman's next-generation agentic creation engine posted in October 2025 and February 2026.