Iris is the network that lets a telecom operator earn on the economics its own infrastructure already creates.
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Today we're launching Iris, the financial network telecom operators plug into to earn on what they already own.
Operators built the roads the digital economy runs on. Everyone else got rich building the city on top. From 2012 through 2025, traffic on operator networks grew more than 50% a year. Operator revenue grew about 1%. The companies on top took the difference.
Operators own what those companies pay dearly for: distribution, the billing relationship, daily engagement. And money already runs through all of it, in subscriber payments, top-ups, advertising and settlement.
Iris sits underneath all of it. Same business, new revenue, settled in dollars. Iris runs the rails. The operator keeps the economics.
VIVA, a licensed carrier in Bolivia, is the first operator live on Iris. Real transactions, settled in USDi, operating reserves held in dollars.
Until now, operators built everything and kept almost none of the value. Now they build almost nothing and keep almost all of it.
The first telecom operator on Iris gets value from day one. Nobody else has to agree.
Iris is the network telecom operators plug into to earn on what they already own. Same business, new revenue, settled in dollars.
(@JulesEMiller)
Prediction: telecom will be the first industry to show blockchain working at scale.
Iris is the network telecom operators plug into to earn on what they already own. VIVA, a licensed carrier in Bolivia, is live on it today, settling transactions in USDi and holding operating reserves in dollars.
(@JulesEMiller at @avax Summit)
Four years ago, the question was what it would take for people to use stablecoins. Part of the answer runs through telecom operators.
On Iris, operators hold and move dollars in USDi on the network they already run.
(@JohnNahas84 at @avax Summit)
Every telecom operator knows the fear: you become the pipe, and someone else becomes the platform. Iris lets an operator switch on new revenue from the infrastructure it already owns, one product at a time, so it stops being the pipe.
On Iris, subscriber data stays inside the telecom operator's own systems. The chain only handles proof and settlement, so authorized parties can verify a record they already hold.
Proof, never data.
(@ryanj_alvarez at @avax Summit)
People think telecom is dated. Every app you use runs on it.
From 2012 to 2025, operator traffic grew more than 50% a year. Revenue grew about 1%.
Iris is the network telecom operators plug into to earn on what they already own.
@AshleyDCan asked @JulesEMiller the basics.
In the US, the phone sits next to a bank account and a few credit cards. In Bolivia, people use the phone as their bank account. That puts the telecom operator at the center of everyday financial life.
Iris is the network telecom operators plug into to earn on what they already own. Same business, new revenue, settled in dollars.
(@JulesEMiller via @stabledash)
The phone is the first screen. It runs on a telecom operator's network, and the operator already bills the person holding it.
Iris is the network telecom operators plug into to earn on what they already own. Same business, new revenue, settled in dollars.
Get paid from the network you built.
Iris is the network telecom operators plug into to earn on what they already own. Same business, new revenue, settled in dollars.
(@JulesEMiller at @avax Summit)
Iris doesn't wait for a crowd. An operator plugs in, switches on one product on its own network and earns on it, settled in dollars. It doesn't need a second operator to get paid.
Telecom operators built the infrastructure the digital economy runs on. It’s time they captured more of the value created on top of it.
(@JulesEMiller via @stabledash)
Operators built the roads the digital economy runs on. On Iris, what they earn settles instantly in a regulated dollar stablecoin issued by @withAUSD. Our CEO @JulesEMiller explains why we built it this way.
Iris exists so operators can earn on the infrastructure they built. That money has to arrive in a form they can use. We chose a regulated dollar stablecoin. Activity on Iris settles instantly in USDi, issued by @withAUSD.
Learn more: irisnetwork.io/blog/why-iris…
Telecom operators move money across markets, currencies, and banking hours. USDi gives them one common dollar asset for two core jobs on Iris: settling business activity and holding operating reserves.
Iris Network retweeted
Starlink just bought its way into being a US carrier, and the top 3 US operators are already down 8% in after hours trading.
Every operator outside the US needs to read this closely.
First, apps took voice and messaging, then hyperscalers and ad networks took the data, and now, satellites are coming for coverage. The pattern is pretty clear… operators build the network, someone else collects on it.
Cutting costs, selling towers and merging all shrink the business - the only thing that grows it is earning more from the networks they already have.
Here’s where I think it happens:
1. Payments. The networks that carry calls and data can carry also money. Mobile money already tried and (mostly) failed because the infra burden is too great. But stablecoins change everything, and the operators that will win are the ones who get that they have to make stables native their networks.
2. Trust. A mobile operator knows with certainty the identity, location and context of every subscriber at any given moment. The smart ones are figuring out that there are ways to better use those data, in safe and ethical ways and without sharing it with anyone, to create value for the humans and businesses in their networks.
At @buildoniris, we’re making both a reality.
We announced an agreement to acquire a nationwide low-band spectrum license portfolio that will pave the way for @Starlink to become a major mobile carrier in the US.
With this new spectrum and our Gen2 constellation, Starlink Mobile can ensure Americans have access to high-speed mobile broadband no matter where they are → spacex.com/updates#starlink-…
Starting with blockchain and then looking for a use case gets the order wrong.
Iris started with an operator problem instead. Telecom operators built the infrastructure and customer relationships, but much of the value created on top of those networks goes elsewhere.
The business case came first, with blockchain used as the infrastructure underneath it.
Digital platforms generate revenue on networks operators build and maintain. Operators hold valuable customer data, but capture too little of its value.
Iris lets operators turn that data into new revenue, starting with advertising. Revenue settles in dollars.
Operators are already fluent in dollar settlement. USDi brings that settlement onto Iris, where it happens in seconds. @withAUSD issues and reserves the asset.
Operators built the networks the digital economy runs on and now they need a payment that moves as fast as they do.
USDi, built with @buildoniris and issued by Agora, starts with @vivabo in Bolivia. Read more about why we're excited.
agora.finance/blog/iris-usdi…
A licensed mobile operator in Latin America now holds operating reserves in a dollar-backed stablecoin.
We've partnered with @withAUSD to launch USDi, a stablecoin built for telecom operators on our network. Agora, the regulated issuer of AUSD, is the sole issuer of USDi, which is backed by the same reserves as AUSD.
@vivabo is the first operator on USDi. It settles network activity in USDi and holds operating reserves in it alongside local currency.
For an operator that works with international vendors, USDi cuts the time and cost of converting between local currency and dollars over and over. Activity on our network settles around the clock, including outside banking hours. And reserves held partly in USDi are less exposed to swings in the local currency.
Telecom has experimented with blockchain for years. Many of those projects needed several carriers to agree on settlement before anything moved. We built Iris to be single-player. One operator can put its business activity onchain without waiting for the rest of the industry. VIVA is doing that with its own operating money today.
Our network runs as its own @avax Layer 1, built around the settlement and compliance requirements of the operators on it.
Agora issues the dollar. We run the rails. Operators keep the economics.
"Telcos effectively bring in that data, and by putting all these operations onchain, you're putting a value layer on top of that data chain."
- @JohnNahas84, CRO of @avax (via @CoinDesk)