There aren’t many areas where blockchain isn’t tipped for success. A lot of this is unsubstantiated hype, but one area that does shows a lot of current and genuine potential, is the internet of things. This is because blockchain could help solve the security issues currently hindering mass connectivity.
Blockchain is most famous for being the virtual ledger that records bitcoin payments, but outside of this specific cryptocurrency, its strength comes from its ability to keep data transactions accountable. “Blockchain computer technology has the potential to create an open and shared platform that billions of devices can use to interact,” explains Shaan Mulchandani, director of technology and security at engineering company, Aricent.
“One day an autonomous car might use the blockchain both to accept rental payments and to pay a pump for gas. Clearly such infrastructure needs to be secure as well as open, and blockchain can provide this too,” he says.
Blockchain is not a catchall answer to every business issue though. “It is a solution to a distributed problem,” explains Joe Pindar, director of product strategy at Gemalto. If you want to connect two sites, this will not be not relevant, but if you want to connect many sites in a distributed way, this could be the answer. And this is why it may come into its own with the internet of things.
How is blockchain currently being used for IoT?
Like many areas around blockchain IBM is leading the way. This is because aside from being very large and therefore able to make a lot of upfront investment, IBM makes it easy to integrate blockchain technology with its Watson IoT platform to provide improved AI-enabled analysis.
“Cognitive IoT” is a big push for the company at the moment. This year it launched a new global headquarters for IoT in Munich and if it can position blockchain and IoT together in a practical way, aligned around industry verticals, it can get in on two very difficult areas at once.
