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Iron Fish

IRON · Field entry
PrivacyPayments & moneyPrivacyCaution flagNot on major US exchanges

A zero-knowledge proof-of-work chain that encrypts every transfer, now in maintenance mode

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$0.07420.11%Snapshot · October 20, 2026 · updates live
Market cap
$5.70M
24h volume
$77,382.00
Rank
#1576
Circulating
76.71M IRON
Max supply
No fixed cap
All-time high
$17.00 April 25, 2023

IRON price chart

7-day snapshot. Chart data from CoinGecko.

Read this first — caution flag. The Iron Fish Foundation moved the network to maintenance mode in April 2026 after its development team joined Base, the main repository has had no commits since August 2025, and trading is thin. How to evaluate a project.
Not on major US exchanges. As of October 2026 Kraken shows Iron Fish as not available and Coinbase only lists an unreviewed DEX-traded version on Base, not an exchange listing; IRON trades mainly on Gate, MEXC and Aerodrome. How to buy crypto safely.

What is Iron Fish?

Iron Fish is a proof-of-work blockchain launched in April 2023 that encrypts every transaction with zero-knowledge proofs, hiding the sender, recipient and amount. In 2025 Coinbase's Base hired its development team, and in April 2026 the Iron Fish Foundation said it was moving the network into maintenance mode.

Utility Lens

What Iron Fish actually does

Provides encrypted transfers for IRON and for assets bridged in from other chains, with view keys for selective disclosure.

Real-world usage
speculativeThe network runs, but with active development stopped and small trading volumes we found little sign of real use beyond mining and trading.
Token necessity
essentialIRON pays miners and transaction fees, and the chain can't run without it.
Decentralization
moderateAnyone can mine and the foundation says no infrastructure it runs is critical to the network, but with the core team gone there is little independent development to maintain the code.
Track record
developingMainnet launched in April 2023; Base hired the core team in 2025 and the foundation moved Iron Fish to maintenance mode in April 2026.

How we rate

What it’s used for

Miners secure the chain and earn IRON, and holders send encrypted transfers using the Iron Fish desktop app, which the foundation still calls the official wallet. The project also promoted bridging assets in from EVM chains through ChainPort. Trading is thin and mostly on Gate, MEXC and Aerodrome on Base.

Role of the IRON token:

paymentsgas

Evidence of real use

Privacy: what’s hidden, what isn’t

Privacy model
default (every transaction)
What it hides
The sender, the recipient and the amount of every transfer on the Iron Fish chain.
What stays visible
That a transaction happened and when, the fee and block data, and anything that happens on the transparent chain at either end of a bridge transfer.
Reality check
Encryption is on for every transfer, but a small, shrinking user base means a smaller crowd to hide in, and maintenance mode means no one is actively improving the cryptography. IRON is not offered on Kraken and Coinbase only shows an unreviewed DEX-traded version, and EU rules from July 2027 bar regulated providers from handling anonymity-enhancing coins.

Privacy coins, explained

How Iron Fish works

Every Iron Fish transfer is encrypted. A zk-SNARK, a compact zero-knowledge proof, shows the transaction follows the rules without revealing the sender, the recipient or the amount, so the network can check it without seeing it. Each wallet has a view key in addition to its spending key; sharing the view key lets someone such as an auditor see your history without being able to move your funds.

New blocks come from proof-of-work mining, aiming for one block a minute, and anyone with the software can mine. The chain began with 42 million coins at genesis, and mining rewards decline each year until a final supply of 256,970,400 IRON is reached roughly 115 years after launch. The project positioned itself as a privacy layer for other chains' assets, with a bridge to EVM networks.

In March 2025 Coinbase's Base hired the Iron Fish team to work on privacy tools for Base, while the chain and token stayed independent. In April 2026 the foundation said it could no longer sustain active development, stopped grants, closed its Discord and moved Iron Fish into maintenance mode. It still runs bootstrap nodes, the block explorer and the website. The main GitHub repository's last commit we found is from August 2025.

Key moments

  1. 2021Iron Fish raises $28 million in a round led by Andreessen Horowitz, and its incentivized testnet starts in December.
  2. 2023Mainnet launches on April 20.
  3. 2025Base, Coinbase's layer-2 network, hires the Iron Fish development team in March; the chain and token remain independent.
  4. 2026On April 20 the Iron Fish Foundation announces the network is moving to maintenance mode and ends grants.

Supply

Iron Fish started with 42 million IRON in its genesis block. Mining adds coins each year on a decaying schedule, starting at 10.5 million in year one, until the supply reaches a terminal 256,970,400 IRON around 115 years after launch.

Risks to understand

  • Active development has stopped: the foundation moved Iron Fish to maintenance mode in April 2026, and bugs may go unfixed.
  • Trading is thin and limited to a few venues, so prices can swing and selling may be hard.
  • A small proof-of-work network with falling interest may be cheaper to attack than a large one.
  • From July 10, 2027 EU-regulated crypto service providers may not handle anonymity-enhancing coins.

Iron Fish FAQ

Did Coinbase buy Iron Fish?

No. Base, Coinbase's layer-2 network, hired the development team in 2025. It did not acquire the Iron Fish blockchain or the IRON token.

What does maintenance mode mean?

The foundation still runs supporting services such as the explorer and bootstrap nodes, but it has stopped active development, ended grants and closed its Discord.

Can anyone see my Iron Fish transactions?

Not by default. Only people you give your view key to can see your transaction history.

Sources

  1. Iron Fish Foundation: Moving to Maintenance Mode — Iron Fish
  2. Iron Fish tokenomics — Iron Fish
  3. Iron Fish: safe optional privacy for any asset — Iron Fish
  4. Base acquires team at PoW blockchain Iron Fish — The Block
  5. iron-fish/ironfish repository — GitHub
  6. Iron Fish price page — Coinbase
  7. Iron Fish price and availability — Kraken
  8. Regulation (EU) 2024/1624 (Anti-Money Laundering Regulation) — EUR-Lex, Official Journal of the EU

Last reviewed October 20, 2026. Written by . Utility Lens ratings are editorial judgments, not investment advice. Market data from CoinGecko. Spot an error? Request a correction.

About the author

Dave McNaught has worked in IT since 1999 and founded All Business Technologies (ABT) in 2003, a Boston-area firm providing Managed IT, Cybersecurity, Managed AI, Web Design and App Development. He publishes The Crypto Guide.

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