IOTA traces its roots to the Jinn project, introduced through a crowdsale in September 2014, before pivoting to become IOTA, launched on mainnet in 2016. The project was co-founded by Sergey Ivancheglo, Serguei Popov, David Sønstebø, and Dominik Schiener. The IOTA Foundation, a non-profit headquartered in Berlin, Germany, was formally established in October 2017 and is chaired by co-founder Dominik Schiener. Since launch, IOTA has undergone significant technical evolution, transforming into a high-performance, fully decentralized Layer 1 network with a strategic focus on global trade, supply chains, and digital identity infrastructure, with live deployments across multiple continents.