The IRC #protocol was started in August 1988 by Jarkko Oikarinen, a student at the University of Oulu in Finland. He created it to replace a program called MUT (MultiUser Talk) on a BBS called OuluBox. The first #IRC server was named tolsun.oulu.fi.

The IRC protocol was officially defined in RFC 1459 in May 1993. It has since been updated several times, with the latest version being RFC 6456 in 2011.

IRC is a text-based chat protocol that allows users to communicate in real-time. It is used for a variety of purposes, including gaming, social networking, and technical support. There are many different IRC networks and channels, each with its own focus.

The oldest IRC channel is #irc, which was created in 1988. It is a general-purpose channel that is used for discussion about anything and everything.

IRC is still a popular chat protocol, although it has declined in popularity in recent years due to the rise of other chat platforms such as #Discord and #Slack. However, it is still used by many people, and it remains an important part of the Internet infrastructure.