Internet of Things (IoT) with the concept of Blockchain...

Hello there.

If you have been around for a while with Cryptocurrencies, Blockchain and Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT), then you might also know that another surging industry is the Internet of Things (IoT). There is a great evidence that these two industries actually have found themselves together to be a solution to overcome the growing pains.

But what is the Internet of Things (IoT)?

Maybe you have ever seen a movie, where our technology and society is well beyond our today's reality? The keyword for that kind of technological advancement would be "connectivity". These "things" that we every day interact with, they all will be having a unique ID and are able to communicate with each other and also produce consumer behavior data, which we as users should have the right to own and sell for the data consuming companies.

Let's say we are missing some components of our favorite food, which is only made on Thursday evenings and as we are driving home in our car and the "smart home" is already setting the appropriate temperature for the stay, the screen on the car makes a proposal to start delivering all the missing groceries for our dinner.

Or maybe your dog is already starving and you are able to check it from your smartphone to make sure that little robotic device has done the feeding for you.

You might be asking yourself - why do we have to make this so complicated?

The answer to that is simple - to win our precious time.

And of course, not let your dog starve :)

As the industry grows, the whole complex will be deeper, as it is developing in layers and all sorts of data will be realized, which was never used before. For example, insurance companies can use the data for their risk calculation from individuals car driving behavior and even from the smartwatch they are holding, which shows how active someone is with their physical activities.

The Internet of Things as an industry has been under development for a long time, but it has been facing issues in terms of security, privacy leaks, inefficiency and high costs. It is estimated that this industry will connect 50 billion devices worldwide by 2020. The use of Blockchain technology can more effectively ensure that this kind of growth will happen, as it is solving some of the pain points for the industry.

How does Blockchain and Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) help Internet of Things (IoT)?

The concept of Blockchain and DLT provides immutable data storage in a decentralized way, which will provide a less cost-efficient value transfer system in a secure way, as the computing power to support the network is distributed by the nodes.

This means that the entire network is not based on one central authority, but more likely hundreds or even thousands of individuals who support the network by running nodes in their devices and in regards are benefited by the reward system. This creates a much safer ecosystem, as the vulnerability is not at the central point, which in many cases has been the reason why some of the companies have been hacked. In this case, the hackers would have to attack the majority of the network at the same time, which is basically impossible at this moment of time.

If we talk about data, then it could become a worry for someone that even if I reveal my data, maybe it still gets exposed because of some privacy leaks. We know that people are willing to share their personal data if they know that it is 100% anonymous, especially if they get rewarded for sharing it.

But how do we know that this data is completely anonymous? Do I just have to believe the company who is storing my data, that it will not violate the rules by not sharing them?

No, actually there are companies aiming to have the technology/software that is built from the ground-up that if the person wants to stay anonymous, then the data company itself even don't know from who the personal data came from but the tech and the software make sure that the data is accurate and has not been changed by the user.

For example, some of the companies approach to this industry is quite interesting, as they have made the incentive for manufacturers to interconnect their devices with their decentralized model, which will in return start generate income from the data revenue to the manufacturers.

On the other hand, we have projects who are being completely opposite, as they are developing decentralized operating system chips to integrate with devices, which saves a lot of headaches for the manufacturers, as they don't have to worry that much, how to synch with software to be part of the Internet of Things (IoT) ecosystem.

One thing is certain that there is a vast amount of individuals aiming to build this Internet of Things ecosystem where we as everyday users at the end have the control over our data. Another exciting thing is to see how it actually all plays out. Personally, for me, it would make sense, that before we start using some kind of device, we actually have the option to opt-in and choose how our data will be distributed and revealed.

Nevertheless, Blockchain and IoT have seemed to find each other and will play a significant part in our lives as this ecosystem is being developed.

Thank you for reading guys and do tune in again, as there is more stuff coming!

Hmm, what is on these other platforms?

Twitter: https://twitter.com/heigovannik
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/heigovannik
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/heigovannik
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/heigovannik
Medium: https://medium.com/@heigovannik