What is Irys?
Irys is a blockchain designed to store large volumes of data onchain for flexible durations, with verification built into the protocol. Programmable Data, its planned connection between stored data and smart contract execution, is in development and is not live yet.
What is the Data Layer?
Ethereum and Solana were built for execution. Storage on those chains exists to support contract state and transaction data. Storing anything larger or longer-term is expensive and constrained by design.
Earlier data blockchains made storage cheaper, but the data they stored couldn't be used by applications directly. It was archived, not accessible during execution.
Irys is the data layer. Applications can store and retrieve data onchain, with storage verification built into the protocol.
The planned Programmable Data feature would let smart contracts use that stored data directly during execution.
The Irys Advantage
Storage and execution, designed together
Irys brings storage and execution into the same network architecture. Programmable Data is the planned connection that would let smart contracts read stored data directly, opening up new ways to build around shared onchain data.
Fast Data Retrieval
When an application requests stored data, the Irys gateway checks its local cache first, then a network-level cache for less frequently accessed data. If neither has it, the gateway requests the data directly from the miners responsible for that partition.
Every chunk is validated against its original Merkle root before being returned. Applications get verified data without having to manage where it's stored or how it's fetched.
Storage Priced on Hardware Costs
Storage fees and execution fees on Irys are separate. They're processed through independent fee markets, so demand for execution doesn't drive up storage prices and vice versa.
Storage fees are based on how much data you store and how long you want it to persist. Miners report price estimates every block, and the protocol smooths those reports using an exponential moving average.
Because the protocol doesn't need to profit from storage fees, Irys can offer storage at the actual cost of the hardware maintaining it.
EVM Compatible
Irys runs an EVM-compatible execution environment called IrysVM. Developers who have built on Ethereum can write and deploy smart contracts on Irys using the same tools and languages they already know.
The planned Programmable Data interface would extend this familiar environment with native access to stored data, giving developers new ways to connect contract logic with onchain information.
Token Economics
$IRYS is the native token of the Irys network. It's used to pay for data storage and smart contract execution. All fees are paid in $IRYS and pegged to USD bands that are reviewed annually, so costs stay predictable regardless of token price movement.
The supply is capped at 10 billion. 50% of execution fees and 95% of term storage fees are burned. Permanent storage fees flow into the Irys Storage Endowment, a non-circulating reserve.
In practice, as the network gets more usage, more $IRYS gets burned than issued. The token is deflationary by design once network activity reaches sufficient volume.
Built on Production Experience
The team behind Irys previously built and operated Bundlr, data infrastructure responsible for hundreds of millions of onchain data transactions with over 300 companies onboarded.
The Irys Advantage
Storage and execution, designed together
Irys brings storage and execution into the same network architecture. Programmable Data is the planned connection that would let smart contracts read stored data directly, opening up new ways to build around shared onchain data.
Fast Data Retrieval
When an application requests stored data, the Irys gateway checks its local cache first, then a network-level cache for less frequently accessed data. If neither has it, the gateway requests the data directly from the miners responsible for that partition.
Every chunk is validated against its original Merkle root before being returned. Applications get verified data without having to manage where it's stored or how it's fetched.
Storage Priced on Hardware Costs
Storage fees and execution fees on Irys are separate. They're processed through independent fee markets, so demand for execution doesn't drive up storage prices and vice versa.
Storage fees are based on how much data you store and how long you want it to persist. Miners report price estimates every block, and the protocol smooths those reports using an exponential moving average.
Because the protocol doesn't need to profit from storage fees, Irys can offer storage at the actual cost of the hardware maintaining it.
EVM Compatible
Irys runs an EVM-compatible execution environment called IrysVM. Developers who have built on Ethereum can write and deploy smart contracts on Irys using the same tools and languages they already know.
The planned Programmable Data interface would extend this familiar environment with native access to stored data, giving developers new ways to connect contract logic with onchain information.
Token Economics
$IRYS is the native token of the Irys network. It's used to pay for data storage and smart contract execution. All fees are paid in $IRYS and pegged to USD bands that are reviewed annually, so costs stay predictable regardless of token price movement.
The supply is capped at 10 billion. 50% of execution fees and 95% of term storage fees are burned. Permanent storage fees flow into the Irys Storage Endowment, a non-circulating reserve.
In practice, as the network gets more usage, more $IRYS gets burned than issued. The token is deflationary by design once network activity reaches sufficient volume.
Built on Production Experience
The team behind Irys previously built and operated Bundlr, data infrastructure responsible for hundreds of millions of onchain data transactions with over 300 companies onboarded.
Who is Irys for?
Irys is purpose-built for the most data-intensive sectors in Web3.
Continuous Data
AI training pipelines, IoT sensor networks, logging infrastructure, agent workflows — these systems produce large volumes of data and need somewhere to store it that's affordable, scalable, and flexible in duration.
Irys offers permanent or term-based storage, so developers choose how long to keep data instead of paying for permanence they don't need.
Verifiable Data
Compliance records, audits, model outputs, data provenance — when data integrity matters months or years after it was written, applications need guarantees that data hasn't changed and is still available.
On Irys, stored data is verified continuously at the protocol level, and miners are economically responsible for maintaining it.
Programmable Data
DeFi protocols reading price data during execution, AI agents enforcing rules from stored context, applications with data-driven access control, payment logic tied to datasets.
Programmable Data is the planned connection that would let smart contracts read stored data directly and act on it, with data and logic on the same chain. It is in development and not live yet: see the current status.
And much more
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