ION Latest Update: Online+ Early Access Rolls out with New Partnerships and Integrations

The Ice Open Network (ION) has emerged as a key player, focusing on building user-centric tools for the Web3 space. As anticipated, the protocol is advancing its flagship product, Online+, a decentralized social media dApp designed to give users control over their data, content, and interactions through blockchain integration. 

ION provided a steady stream of updates via its X account, offering insights into the beta testing phase of Online+. These posts covered technical refinements, the rollout of early access to thousands of creators and partners, new collaborations that extend the platform's functionalities, and enhancements to the ICE token's real-world applications. 

This period reflects ION's methodical progress toward a public launch, addressing core challenges in decentralized social platforms, including security, usability, and interoperability. With this in mind, this article highlights the key updates from the platform over the past week, beginning with new partnerships and innovations, and then unveiling the latest Online+ Bulletin. 

Partnership with CoreNet and 8Lends

ION revealed its partnership with CoreNet, incorporating the platform into both the Online+ platform and the broader ION ecosystem. CoreNet specializes in providing decentralized access to artificial intelligence tools, where users can generate text, images, audio, or code outputs using tokens or Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs). 

This setup eliminates the need for conventional logins or subscription models, relying instead on blockchain-based authentication for direct, permissionless interactions. The partnership expands Online+'s capabilities by embedding AI functionalities within its social framework, allowing users to leverage these tools in content creation or communication without leaving the dApp environment. 

Additionally, the blockchain platform announced a partnership with 8lends, bringing this crowdlending platform into Online+. 8lends facilitates peer-to-peer loans for investments in actual businesses, with returns distributed on-chain and built-in safeguards for lenders, including collateral requirements and smart contract enforcement. This addition broadens Online+'s financial tools, enabling users to engage in lending directly from the social dApp interface.

Early Access Goes Live and Online+ Unpacked Series Continues

August 1 marked the activation of early access to Online+ for a group of 3,000 creators and more than 100 partners from the Web3 sector. ION's post included an embedded video that walked through core aspects of the platform, such as mechanisms for users to maintain ownership over their digital identity, generated content, and any associated value through blockchain records. 

The update also indicated that individuals on the waitlist would receive invitations in subsequent phases, building a phased rollout to gather iterative feedback. Complementing this, ION advanced its "Online+ Unpacked" educational series with a dedicated article on the platform's chat system. This feature employs end-to-end encryption linked to users' cryptocurrency wallets, supporting private messaging that operates without centralized servers. Messages are secured via cryptographic protocols, ensuring that only intended recipients can access them. 

ICE Token Integration for Vehicle Purchases

ION expanded in the practical applications of the ICE token through a new acceptance agreement with CryptoAutos. This service now permits the use of ICE for buying or renting vehicles, ranging from everyday models to high-end supercars. CryptoAutos has processed over $62 million in cryptocurrency transactions to date and operates internationally, providing a tangible use case for ICE in the commercial sector. 

An accompanying video demonstrated the transaction process, showing how users can select vehicles, confirm payments via wallet, and complete deals on-chain, which adds to the token's utility beyond ecosystem-internal functions like staking or governance.

Online+ Beta Bulletin Released with Feature Details and Bug Fixes

The latest Online+ Beta Bulletin compiled by ION's Product Lead, Yuliia, covers recent enhancements, resolutions, and forward plans based on tester input. The bulletin emphasized the deployment of a new infrastructure build to testers, with the team prioritizing quick responses to reported issues across the dApp's components.

Yuliia stated, "With the new infrastructure built now in the hands of testers, the team spent the week collecting live feedback and pushing rapid fixes across all modules. Onboarding also began for more than 3,000 creators and over 100 partners, marking a major milestone ahead of public launch." 

This Bulletin noted improvements in accessibility for wallet and feed sections, UI tweaks for profile sharing and coin management, and added security measures in passkey flows. It also mentioned over 40 adjustments for stability, targeting production readiness. Here are the key updates: 

Feature Updates:

• Authentication: Updated registration page text for passkey-using devices to clarify instructions.
• Wallet: Refined hitboxes to improve touch and click accuracy on mobile and desktop interfaces.
• Feed: Added visual highlights to the 'topics' field when users post articles for the first time, aiding content categorization.
• Profile: Enabled direct sharing of one's own profile via links or embeds.
• Security: Implemented backup warning logic to guide users on account recovery options.
• General: Switched from onelink.me to ION's official domain for all links; standardized scroll view behavior across modules; revised text in the passkey confirmation modal for clarity.

Bug Fixes:

• Authentication: Corrected flickering and layout cut-offs on profile pages post-passkey registration; fixed misaligned buttons during signup; resolved infinite loading loops on the "Discover creators" section.
• Wallet: Eliminated excessive requests on the receive coins page; ensured new coins appear immediately in user lists.
• Chat: Adjusted "Edit" button margins; shortened delays in actions and chat loading; activated profile sharing within chats; fixed media transmission errors, including missing videos; modified padding on the "Attach" modal.
• Feed: Repaired story deep links that opened as standard posts; aligned 3-dot menus and "Show more" buttons; corrected padding in articles, video previews, and reply fields; enhanced relay connection error handling; fixed story visibility issues like lingering removed items or non-updating system bars; addressed Android-specific glitches with persistent system bars; resolved post-creation errors, app freezes on post cancellation, mirrored camera views, stretched previews, empty video thumbnails, aspect ratio mismatches in recordings, and auto-closure of menus after publishing; improved URL parsing, link insertion in articles, text pasting, and German localization compatibility.
• Profile: Fixed padding for restricted chat users; prevented self-redirection after payments; made follow buttons responsive on others' profiles.
• Security: Sorted out authenticator flow discrepancies.

For the upcoming week, the platform will focus on refining and improving both the testnet and production environments as it prepares for public launch in August. 

"With creators, partners, and beta testers now actively using the app, this week is all about refinement. We’ll be polishing both the testnet and production environments — identifying edge cases, fixing bugs, and fine-tuning performance based on real-world feedback from thousands of users across different devices and platforms." Yuliia added, "It’s a critical step in ensuring that Online+ doesn’t just work, but that it delivers a smooth, intuitive, and resilient experience at scale. And live." 

Online+ To Become an Alternative to Traditional Social Media? 

Discussions on X in recent times have positioned Online+ as a potential decentralized alternative to centralized platforms like X and Meta, which face criticism for data privacy issues and algorithmic control. Community members highlighted Online+'s features, such as user-owned content and blockchain-based monetization, as solutions to these problems. 

For instance, one post described traditional social media as "digital walled gardens" that "collect data without consent, algorithmically shape discourse and lock creators into ecosystems where monetization depends on opaque rules and middlemen." The same post emphasized Online+'s role in providing "simplicity of Web2 to the power of Web3," with instant monetization and daily earnings for users. 

Most users noted that Online+ simplifies social media use with easy signups requiring no passwords, an inbuilt wallet for global fund transfers, and day-one monetization options. Comparisons were drawn to other blockchain-social hybrids, such as TON with Telegram and Pi Network with its browser, suggesting Online+ follows a model where blockchain powers a unified app for social interactions and value exchange. 

Overall, the general sentiment emphasized Online+'s focus on privacy, data ownership, and freedom of expression. While Online+ is still in beta, its integrations with AI tools, lending, and commerce position it to address limitations in traditional social media; however, adoption will depend on user migration and network effects.

Sources:

• ION's X Account (@ice_blockchain) - Posts from July 30 to August 6, 2025.
• Online+ Beta Bulletin Blog by ION Product Lead Yuliia: https://ice.io/the-online-beta-bulletin-july-28-august-3-2025 
• Decentralized social media app to challenge Big Tech’s ‘Walled Gardens’: https://cointelegraph.com/news/decentralized-social-media-app-to-challenge-big-tech-s-walled-gardens 

Conclusion

The updates from July 30 to August 6, 2025, illustrate ION's systematic approach to developing Online+ during its beta phase. Through targeted partnerships, feature refinements, and enhancements to token utility, the project addresses key aspects of decentralization, including user ownership and secure interactions. The detailed bug fixes and onboarding efforts indicate a commitment to stability and scalability, preparing the dApp for broader adoption. 

As testing continues with input from creators and partners, Online+ positions itself as a platform that combines social media functionalities with blockchain-based tools for AI, lending, and commerce.