There seems to be an unavoidable collaboration between the Internet Of things and blockchain technology, although it remains to be seen how such a unification would work exactly. With all of the data being exchanged, secure solutions have to be established, and the blockchain seems to fit the bill perfectly.
A Blockchain For The Internet of Things?
With all of the focus on the Internet of Things these days, the time has come to consider how all of the transmitted and collected data will be stored. Traditional methods of communication and data storage seem vastly inferior to what will be needed, and distributed ledger technology could be a very valuable ally in this regard.
Big data will be an integral part of the Internet of Things, which needs to be accessible at all times. But at the same time, developers have to come up with a way to make sure the transmitted data cannot be modified later on. An immutable ledger seems to be the obvious answer to this problem, and some IoT experts are calling it “Ledger of Things” already.
With its transparent and secure nature and no central point of failure in the system, the blockchain has no downsides for the Internet of Things. Moreover, now that smart contracts have become a part of the equation in recent times, it only seems more plausible to create a Ledger of Things in the future.
Some of the first iterations are already cropping up. Over in Brooklyn, two neighbors traded solar energy in exchange for cash over a blockchain, and the whole process took mere minutes to complete. A collaboration between Internet of Things and blockchain experts could lead to innovative ways to address the topic of “smart energy grids”.
With so many devices to be interconnected at some point in the future, payments become even more important than ever before. Microtransactions through traditional financial means are not cost-efficient by any means, and new forms of payment will be made more popular. Bitcoin seems a very likely candidate in this regard, thanks to its global appeal and option to send both small and large payments for minimal fees.
Source: Cisco
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