Blockchain & IoT — The Next Big Thing

It’s no easy task to predict what the next big development in crypto will be. We’ve seen a rise of companies trying to get into the crypto space only for their mission to be far-fetched, off-base, or lacking in necessity. The next big move in crypto is something that is digestible, feasible, and most importantly, essential.

As we face a massive surge in the development and production of IoT technology, data is being connected and exchanged across networks more than ever before. The IoT system consists of endless gateways where valuable, personal and private information is shared. In this ecosystem, if even one gateway is breached through a lower-level network, it can shatter the security of the entire network—spoofing is no joke. The logical solution to this issue is to implement blockchain technology to process interactions between IoT devices. The power and capabilities of blockchain technology are unquestionably valuable when it comes to increasing trust, transparency and security. The convergence of IoT and blockchain is the most vital and consequential thing coming up.

Bridging the IoT silos has been impossible in the past because of cybersecurity issues. Now, distributed ledger technology can allow for IoT devices to seamlessly communicate with one another to create secure transfers of information that would birth game-changing technologies that allow for digital currency micropayments that credit cards can’t handle. Bitcoin gave us store of value. Ethereum gave us transfer of value. Now is the time to use the power of blockchain technology to safely connect the internet of things and elicit the value of collaboration.

Many companies are already venturing into converging IoT with blockchain technology. The Helium Blockchain relies on a network of user-generated hotspots that generate tokens and facilitate machine-to-machine transactions—their goal is to get enough end-users so their network, which only works on devices connected to their hotspot, will blanket the country. Beyond Protocol, a stealth mode project analysts have regularly called "the next top 3 coin," is designed to be completely decentralized, meaning insane security and digital currency capabilities from day one through just one line of code embedded into any device. IOTA promises, upon integration, to similarly allow for machine-to-machine micropayments, although many academics do not believe the core technology behind their solution is currently viable — they also don’t do much by way of cybersecurity. Fetch.ai is building an open access, tokenized, decentralized machine learning network to enable smart infrastructure built around a decentralized digital economy. These companies and more are at the forefront of this significant blockchain development. Who knows what kinds of industries and technologies will be spawned from connecting devices and forming a secure, reliable network of technology. Sure, one machine is great—but a network of collaborative machines could change the world as we know it.