Latest Ice Open Network News: Token Changes, Online+ Development & More

Ice Open Network (ION) has continued its progress in the Web3 space. Over the past week, the decentralized protocol shared a series of updates that highlight its progress in ecosystem consolidation, development, tokenomics education, and community engagement. 

The Ice Open Network is on a mission to redefine internet freedom through a decentralized Web3 ecosystem. The project is focused on coding, designing, testing, and scaling a platform that integrates social, communication, payments, content, and identity management into a seamless framework. 

This mission positions ION as a foundation for creators, communities, and builders to launch apps, own their data, and collaborate in a shared ecosystem designed for real utility. With this in mind, the latest round-up reflects ION’s long-term goal of empowering users in the Web3 space, a theme that has been consistent across its recent communications. 

Let us take a look at the latest developments over the past week, including some progress on the Online+ product: 

Ecosystem Consolidation: Liquidity Migration to OKX

A Strategic Move for Unification

One of the most significant updates came on May 19, 2025, when the Ice Open Network announced a major step in unifying its ecosystem. The project is withdrawing liquidity from decentralized exchanges (DEXes) on Binance Smart Chain (BSC), Ethereum, Arbitrum, and Solana, consolidating it on OKX. The post described this as "a major step in unifying the ecosystem under one roof," signaling a strategic effort to streamline operations and enhance user access to $ION tokens.

This migration is part of a broader effort to simplify liquidity management and reduce fragmentation across multiple blockchains. The move aligns with ION’s earlier updates on token migration, where the project launched the ION Bridge to facilitate the movement of ICE tokens from BSC to the ION blockchain for greater scalability and efficiency.

Online+ Beta Bulletin: Preparing for Launch

New Features and Bug Fixes

Ice Open Network shared the latest Online+ Beta Bulletin, providing a detailed look at the progress of its flagship social media decentralized application (dApp). The bulletin, authored by ION’s Product Lead, Yuliia, outlines recent feature updates, bug fixes, and the team’s focus on launch readiness. This update is a critical milestone, as Online+ is poised to become a central hub for ION’s growing community, integrating social media, encrypted chat, an in-built wallet, and dApp exploration functionalities.

It highlights the team’s efforts to stabilize the platform, stating, "With all major features now in place, last week was all about tightening the bolts — and it showed. We delivered Chat performance upgrades, introduced post sharing, fine-tuned Wallet flows, and continued refining Feed logic for cleaner interactions."

Key Updates in Online+

The bulletin details several feature updates and bug fixes, demonstrating the team’s commitment to delivering a polished product:

Chat Enhancements: IONPay is now live in Send and Request flows, allowing users to send and request funds directly in chats. Users can also share posts from the Feed to Chat, and general performance across messaging interactions has been improved.

Wallet Improvements: The main network of each coin is prioritized in transaction details, and the ION (formerly ICE) balance now synchronizes correctly across all views.

Feed Optimization: Improved caching strategies and graceful handling of broken posts ensure better performance and user experience.

Auth and Profile: Refined creator recommendations during onboarding and implemented client-side search for Bookmarks.

Chat Fixes: Resolved issues like incorrect notifications after fund transfers, ghost messages, and excessive padding in modals. Long PDF uploads no longer cause freezes, and reaction overlays now display correctly.

Wallet Fixes: Fixed arrival time display issues in Send Coins flow, corrected BTC and TRX network fee displays, and addressed transaction history inaccuracies.

Feed Fixes: Eliminated duplicate follow notifications, fixed unclickable link previews, and prevented app crashes after creating new Stories.

Yuliia provided insight into the team’s progress, noting, "Last week, we delivered one of the final big milestones in Chat: message editing — a feature that required a full refactor and extensive testing. The team put in serious work fine-tuning the messaging experience and making sure it runs smoothly across devices." 

The protocol’s product lead also emphasized the role of the community, adding, "Bugs are getting squashed daily, and everything’s feeling tighter by the hour — big thanks to our incredible community of beta testers for surfacing issues and staying so engaged through it all ."

New Partnerships in the Online+ Ecosystem

The bulletin also announced three new partners joining the Online+ ecosystem, each contributing to its growth:

• Zoro: An AI-powered robotics project with zk + modular infrastructure, building a dApp on the ION Framework to connect its community of builders and developers.
• SugarBoy: A high-speed arcade shooter for competitive mobile gaming, creating a dedicated dApp to power its creator economy and engage fans on-chain.
• SoonChain: A modular Layer 1 blockchain focused on speed, security, and EVM compatibility, integrating into Online+ to reach builders and communities at scale.

Tokenomics and Rebranding: From $ICE to $ION

On May 16, 2025, the Ice Open Network launched the "ION Economy Deep-Dive Series," a new initiative to educate users about its ecosystem The series began with an introduction to the $ION deflationary model, explaining how value flows back to users and the role of the token in rewarding real usage rather than speculation. This move underscores ION’s commitment to transparency, a key factor in building trust within the Web3 community.

By focusing on utility-driven rewards, ION aims to foster long-term stability and growth, aligning with its economic model, which emphasizes balancing rewards, incentives, and development funds.

Speaking of rebranding, the Ice Open Network explained the transition from $ICE to $ION, noting that the change is about "consistency, simplicity, and scaling with purpose." This rebranding effort aligns the token ticker with the project’s name, Ice Open Network, to improve clarity across token listings, wallet interfaces, and dApp integrations. The migration process is already underway, with the ION Bridge active, and exchanges are updating their listings to reflect the new ticker.

Looking Ahead: What’s Next for ION?

The recent updates paint a picture of a project in a critical growth phase. With Online+ nearing launch, liquidity consolidated on OKX, and a focus on educating the community, ION is positioning itself as a leader in the Web3 space. The project’s emphasis on real utility, community engagement, and transparency sets it apart, but it must address technical challenges to ensure a seamless rollout.

As Yuliia noted in the Online+ Beta Bulletin, "Everything is clicking into place now, and honestly, I’m buzzing — this thing is coming to life fast!" The coming weeks will likely bring more updates on the Online+ launch, additional partnerships, and further refinements to the ION ecosystem. For now, the Ice Open Network continues to build relentlessly, brick by brick, toward a new era of internet freedom.