IQ.wiki: Decentralized Knowledge on Blockchain — How It's Revolutionizing Information Sharing

The Blueprint: How IQ.wiki Actually Works

Founded in 2014 by Sam Kazemian and Theodor Forselius, IQ.wiki emerged from a simple but radical idea: what if knowledge itself could be decentralized? Built on the EOS blockchain, the platform operates as a fork of Wikipedia but with a fundamental twist—it’s powered by the native IQ token and governed by its community rather than a centralized entity.

At its core, IQ.wiki functions through three interconnected modules: the token module (handling economic incentives), the governance module (managing voting and protocol decisions), and the article submission module (controlling content flow). This tripartite architecture ensures that power remains distributed across the network.

The platform maintains content quality through a practical staking mechanism. Before publishing, contributors must stake a fixed amount of IQ tokens as collateral. Approved articles result in token refunds plus additional rewards, while rejected submissions mean loss of the staked amount. This economic disincentive against low-quality submissions has proven surprisingly effective at maintaining editorial standards.

What Makes IQ Different From Wikipedia

While both are encyclopedic in nature, the differences are fundamental. Wikipedia operates through volunteer editors answerable to a centralized board. IQ.wiki, conversely, allows anyone holding IQ tokens to participate in governance and content creation, creating a truly permissionless knowledge base.

The platform incentivizes contributions in ways Wikipedia cannot. Every piece of accepted content generates rewards distributed to creators and editors from platform fees. Contributors also gain voting power proportional to their token holdings, giving them a direct say in the platform’s evolution.

The IQ Token: More Than Just a Governance Tool

IQ serves multiple functions across the ecosystem:

Reward Distribution: Contributors earn IQ for creating and curating high-quality content. Tokens are minted every half-hour to compensate editors and curators whose work is approved by token holders.

Governance Rights: Staking IQ grants voting power on protocol upgrades and strategic decisions. The longer tokens are staked, the greater the voting influence.

Passive Income Through Staking: Via HiIQ, token holders can lock their IQ in designated pools to earn staking rewards or exclusive NFT drops. Staking duration directly correlates with reward magnitude.

Speculation and Trading: IQ is tradeable on various cryptocurrency platforms, allowing traders to capitalize on price movements.

NFT Access: Holders staking on HiIQ gain raffle entry for digital collectibles, including the $120,000 distribution from the Supernormal collaboration in 2023.

Current Supply Dynamics

As of January 2025, IQ demonstrates the following tokenomics:

• Total Supply: 21 billion IQ
• Circulating Supply: Approximately 24.5 billion IQ
• Maximum Supply: 60 billion IQ

This expansion from the previously announced 21 billion maximum cap reflects the protocol’s evolution to accommodate ecosystem growth while maintaining scarcity relative to total issuance potential.

The IQ.wiki Ecosystem: Three Pillars of Innovation

PredIQt: A prediction market where users speculate on real-world events across politics, finance, and sports. The platform operates on a share model—correct predictions yield IQ rewards, while participants can exit positions if opinions shift.

OraQle: A blockchain oracle that bridges on-chain smart contracts with real-world data from trusted sources. Notably, the Associated Press used OraQle to publish 2020 U.S. Presidential election results and 2021 NCAA March Madness scores directly onto Ethereum—historic firsts for political and sports data on-chain.

HiIQ: A dedicated staking platform enabling IQ holders to generate passive yield through time-locked deposits while participating in community governance through voting.

Historical Milestones and Legitimacy Markers

The project gained credibility when Dr. Larry Sanger, Wikipedia’s co-founder and longtime critic of the platform’s editorial centralization, joined as Chief Information Officer in 2017. His involvement signaled that IQ.wiki addressed genuine limitations in the Wikipedia model.

Early funding backing included:

• 2015: ~$130,000 from Mucker Capital via Wefunder
• 2017: $700,000 from angel investors
• 2018: $30 million from Galaxy Digital’s EOS ecosystem fund

These investments validated the concept among established venture players before blockchain funding became mainstream.

IQ.wiki’s Competitive Landscape and Strengths

While Wikipedia remains the dominant knowledge repository by user base, IQ.wiki has captured significant traction with over 3 million monthly active users in recent years. The platform’s decentralization model, monetary incentive structure, and Web3 alignment position it differently from Wikipedia’s volunteer-driven approach.

Potential competitors like The Graph operate in adjacent spaces (indexing and validating data) but serve different functions. The Graph focuses on data indexing for smart contracts, whereas IQ.wiki prioritizes human-curated, verifiable content creation.

IQ.wiki’s strengths include its highly varied content repertoire (uncensored by default), decentralized governance, and ecosystem products designed for the Web3-native audience. These factors create a compelling value proposition for communities seeking information sources outside traditional gatekeeping structures.

Roadmap Expansion: Next-Generation Products

PredIQt Earn: An upcoming lending market enabling peer-to-peer IQ token lending and borrowing, similar to AAVE. Users will deposit IQ into prediction market contracts to access loans at variable interest rates.

PredIQt Smart Assets: Users will collateralize IQ tokens to mint synthetic assets tracking underlying cryptocurrencies (e.g., iqBTC, iqETH). These can be traded, lent, borrowed, or held for leveraged exposure without leaving the IQ.wiki ecosystem.

Key Developments Demonstrating Real-World Adoption

• July 2022: IQ listing on 1inch DeFi aggregator expanded liquidity access across 250+ trading sources
• November 2020: Associated Press partnership to record U.S. election data on-chain via OraQle—unprecedented for political information
• December 2021: Launch of BrainDAO, a Web3 knowledge fund dedicated to preserving and funding decentralized information creation
• 2024: Everipedia rebranded as IQ.wiki, solidifying the shift from legacy web2 model to pure blockchain protocol

Securing and Trading IQ Tokens

IQ is accessible through major cryptocurrency exchanges supporting the token across EOS and Ethereum networks. For storage, users have three options: keeping tokens on exchange wallets (convenient but less secure), software wallets like MetaMask or Exodus (balance of security and accessibility), or hardware wallets like Ledger (maximum security but requiring technical proficiency).

Staking occurs exclusively on HiIQ, where token holders deposit IQ into designated pools to earn yield or NFT rewards based on staking duration.

Why IQ.wiki Matters in the Web3 Knowledge Economy

IQ.wiki represents the first major blockchain protocol attempting to decentralize information curation and access at scale. By replacing centralized editorial boards with token-incentivized contributors and on-chain governance, the platform addresses fundamental questions about information authority in an increasingly decentralized internet.

The protocol’s ecosystem products (prediction markets, oracles, staking) extend beyond encyclopedic function into broader Web3 infrastructure. This positions IQ.wiki not merely as a Wikipedia alternative but as a foundational layer for trustless information in decentralized applications.

For investors, developers, and information enthusiasts, IQ.wiki represents a bet that knowledge should be permissionless, compensated, and governed by communities rather than institutions.