Protocol upgrade · Architecture dossier

DIONS 2.0 Protocol Report

A technical view of the I/O Coin upgrade path: legacy adaptive Proof-of-Stake continuity, probabilistic confirmations, a 4 MB pressure gate, DIONS-native EVM and SVM execution zones, data-availability sharding, a post-quantum track, and identity records. Engineering began in 2020; the public testnet opened in 2025. Retail-ready is not claimed until the gates below pass.

Runtime: C++20 legacy PoS core
Block budget: 4 MB
Heavy-load gate: ~16 s confirmations
Release target: December 2026

Testnet explorer Portal source

01 / community update

DIONS 2.0 is being tested in public before any retail-ready claim.

The goal is to prove the chain under real use rather than to announce it. The public testnet has been open since 2025, collecting data under real load. Many major features already run together; the remaining work is pressure, scale, and reproducible evidence.

Working nowCore stack passes feature tests

Still proving4 MB pressure + wallet scale

Retail-readyNot claimed until proof passes

Release targetDecember 2026, proof-gated

01 Continuity is holding

The chain has repeatedly recovered and converged across the managed testnet using I/O Coin’s legacy Proof-of-Stake model: restart recovery, chain convergence, same-SHA node alignment, fork safety, and staking unlock behaviour.

02 Features are running together

Aliases, tokens, DEX actions, EVM and SVM execution, messaging, file and data operations, and normal IOC sends are being exercised in the same soak rather than in isolation.

03 Proof gates remain

4 MB blocks, near-16-second confirmations under load, reward visibility, explorer views, and master-wallet scale still have to pass on the final pinned SHA.

02 / system architecture

L1 settlement, plus execution and data layers.

DIONS 2.0 does not replace the original DIONS work. It tightens the chain model and expands the application surface on top of the same legacy Proof-of-Stake continuity layer — a layer that has produced blocks without a halt since the 2014 genesis block.

PoS Legacy continuity consensus

Adaptive stake retargeting, restart catch-up, bounded fork handling, and probabilistic confirmations. No quorum stall.

Identity W3C DID direction

Aliases, agents, devices, and key-held identity records.

Messaging Encrypted data layer

Direct messages, channels, shadow messaging, and file/data transfer paths.

PQC Dilithium-active track

ML-DSA / Dilithium path active. Other post-quantum surfaces remain gated until separately proven.

Graph Graph / DA observability

Graph events, DA shard storage, bounded relay pressure, and an explorer graph/general split.

Bridge Fail-closed bridge surfaces

ECDSA and HTLC surfaces exist. Custody stays monitor-only and fail-closed until separately activated and proven.

03 / execution

Two execution zones, one IOC continuity layer.

EVM zone

Ethereum-compatible contract lane

Solidity / Vyper contracts
evmone execution engine
Full eth_* JSON-RPC surface
State roots posted back to L1
DIONS-native lane; throughput proof pending

SVM zone

High-throughput program lane

Rust / C BPF programs
Account model and PDAs
Dispute and challenge-response layer
Zone root settlement to L1
Concurrent-load proof required

04 / data availability

64 data shards plus 32 parity shards.

Reed-Solomon direction: any 64 of 96 shards recover the block. Light clients sample rather than store.

Data shards: 64
Parity shards: 32
Recovery: any 64 of 96
Client sampling: 20 random shards
Detection confidence: 99.99%
Retention window: 10,000 blocks
Per-node storage: 1–10% direction
Block budget: 4 MB

Cryptography: post-quantum track and device profiles

The public retail truth is conservative. Dilithium3 / ML-DSA is the active path. Classical signatures remain supported for compatibility. Additional post-quantum surfaces are pending proof and are not claimed as delivered.

05 / identity + messaging

DID records for aliases, devices, and agents.

Identity is expressed as W3C DID Core 1.0-direction records, with native encrypted messaging over an AES-256 and RSA-4096 path.

Alias did:dions:alice

Human-readable identity linked to wallet ownership.

Agent did:dions:agent:bot1

Autonomous entity. Owns and delegates to devices.

Device did:dions:device:sensor7

Hardware identity delegated from an agent or account.

{
  "@context": "https://www.w3.org/ns/did/v1",
  "id": "did:dions:agent:bot1",
  "verificationMethod": [{
    "type": "EcdsaSecp256k1VerificationKey2019"
  }],
  "service": [{
    "type": "DionsMessaging",
    "serviceEndpoint": "dions://msg/bot1"
  }]
}

Light service path: verify, sample, participate

A light client syncs headers only, samples data-availability shards, and can earn participation rewards without carrying full-node storage. Validator, Light service, and Proof-of-Participation reward lanes must all be paid and visible in the testnet explorer before the release gate clears.

06 / chain comparison

Measured against current L1 expectations.

Figures are stated as design targets and gates, not as proven benchmarks. Throughput numbers are published only after reproducible artifacts exist.

Comparison of Ethereum, Solana, and DIONS 2.0 across L1 capacity, execution lanes, post-quantum posture, native identity, native messaging, light-client support, and reward paths.
Capability	Ethereum	Solana	DIONS 2.0
L1 capacity	Lower-throughput L1 class	High-throughput monolithic L1	4 MB block budget; TPS published only after reproducible artifacts
Execution lanes	Rollups / L2s	Parallel runtime design	DIONS-native EVM/SVM lanes; benchmark pending
Post-quantum	None	None	Dilithium / ML-DSA active; other PQC paths gated
Native identity	ENS-adjacent / off-chain	No	W3C DID Core 1.0 direction
Native messaging	No	No	AES-256 + RSA-4096 path
Light client	Sync committee model	Limited	Native Light service path; 0.5 IOC reward proof required
Earn from zero	No	No	PoP relay reward path

07 / transition map

Before, now, and what becomes new.

How each feature area changes from legacy DIONS to the DIONS 2.0 path, and what surface is new.
Feature area	Legacy DIONS / IOC	DIONS 2.0 path
Consensus	Adaptive legacy Proof-of-Stake	Legacy PoS continuity; near-16 s under committed heavy load is a release gate
Alias resolution	Alias identity and data already present	O(1) LevelDB indexed resolution on a hardened deterministic index path
Messaging	Public / encrypted messaging APIs	Encrypted, plain, and shadow messaging with consistency gates and channel lifecycle controls
Files & data	Upload, download, transfer paths	Quota-governed deterministic data behaviour; DA sharding with Reed-Solomon direction
Cryptography	Classical encryption / signing assumptions	Dilithium / ML-DSA production path plus classical compatibility
Execution	No native smart-contract execution zones	EVM and SVM execution paths integrated
Bridge	No mature wrapped-asset bridge stack	ECDSA signing, HTLC, relayer mechanics; custody monitor-only and fail-closed until proven
Participation	Full wallet / node model	Light client and PoP relay paths: headers-only sync and zero-balance relay rewards

08 / release evidence

What still has to pass before retail-ready.

Retail readiness is not claimed during the public testnet release. That claim only comes when every gate below produces a reproducible artifact on the final pinned SHA.

Full feature soak PASS on the same pinned SHA.
Sustained mixed 4 MB pressure for one hour.
Near-16-second confirmations under heavy committed load.
msgs_failed=0, no fork or reorg, and node spread ≤ 2.
Validator, Light service, and PoP rewards paid and visible in the testnet explorer.
Explorer network, reward, graph, and block-fill views accurate.
Bloated master-wallet path works with a real bloated wallet.dat fixture.
Legacy staking / change split does not create unbounded wallet bloat.
Restart and catch-up proof passes after load.
Enterprise multi-user record-storage fuzz.

Wallet scale Master-wallet proof

Real bloated wallet.dat, WAL/delta persistence, cache coherence, and staking-change bloat prevention.

4 MB / 16 s Final pressure gate

Sustained high-fill blocks, msgs_failed=0, no fork or reorg, clean wind-down.

Network gate 5 managed nodes

Managed nodes must stay on the same SHA with bounded spread.

09 / network + build

Protocol parameters and build surface.

Mainnet P2P: 33764
Mainnet RPC: 33765
Testnet P2P: 33763
Testnet RPC: 33766
WebSocket: 33776
Chain IDs: 8377 / 8378

cd build
cmake --build . -j$(nproc)

# dions2d, dions2-light, dions-cli,
# dions-explorer, dions2-migrate,
# dions-relayer, dns seeder, test binaries

10 / source material

Follow the source record.

dions portalDIONS 2.0 Architecture Portal testnet explorerDIONS 2.0 Testnet Explorer wikiI/O Digital Foundation GitBook sourceIOCoin / DIONS GitHub overviewDIONS 2.0 on the main site iocoinReturn to main site