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IoT is Great but Blockchain is About to Make it Super Awesome

Blockchain technology still evokes mixed feeling of sorts from support to outright dismissal depending on who you ask. For proponents, Blockchain technology is the next big thing after the Internet, and we can expect to see a massive socioeconomic revolution riding on the wings of blockchain technology. For critics, Blockchain technology could well be a passing fad, or an interesting technology that sounds great in theory but without many options for its power to be harnessed for everyday use.

The most high-profile use of Blockchain in use right now is Bitcoin; investors, economists, and students of the financial markets are starting to pay more attention to the rise of cryptocurrency. We have also seen the application of Blockchain technology in fractional investing, real estate, trading of diamonds, and the creation of a foolproof voting solution among others. Yet, industry experts are convinced in the fact that Blockchain has the best odds of making it to the mainstream by driving the adoption of the Internet of Things (IoT).

Meet the Internet of Things (IoT)

There's no singular all-encompassing definition for the Internet of Things (IoT). However, we can loosely define the Internet of Things as a world of interconnected devices that are able to create and share information without any direct human involvement. With a Bluetooth or WiFi connection, IoT devices can aggregate data and 'make decisions' as part of efforts to automate many of the activities that humans do manually.

In a house outfitted with IoT devices, the light automatically comes up as you wake up and step out of bed. The 'switching on' of the lights send a message to your coffee maker to start brewing a fresh cup, which will be ready as you step into the kitchen. When you open your fridge to take the jug of milk or juice, the fridge automatically places an order to your grocery store to deliver fresh edibles. When you exit the house to go to work, the light and AC unit automatically goes off and the motion sensors on your property are activated.

IoT is not necessarily a product or service; rather, it is a paradigm shift away from individual devices to a robust ecosystem of smarter devices that that 'communicate' with themselves. Interestingly, every device with an On/OFF switch could be potentially outfitted with IoT capabilities. Researchers in Business Insider's Internet of Things 2017 Report predict that the total IoT devices installation base will soar from 6.6 billion devices in 2016 to 22.5 billion devices by 2021.

IoT will also trigger the expansion of the big data industry as the army of IoT devices generates huge amounts of data. Such data helps consumers make logical decisions, help businesses tailor their products to specific target markets, and it makes for more efficient allocation of resources in the economy.

IoT Meets Blockchain: Enter the Streamr Platform

For IoT to get a faster ride into the mainstream market, it needs the instrumentality of Blockchain technology. Blockchain also needs the potential cross-dimensional base of IoT devices in order to get a faster rate of mass-market adoption.

Streamr, a blockchain-based startup wants to pioneer the integration of Blockchain and the Internet of Things by creating a P2P platform where data is a commodity.

Streamr has created a blockchain ecosystem where the people own the data produced by their IoT devices. The decentralization of data goes in sharp contrast to the current order where the corporations that make/sell such IoT devices own the data generated by such devices. A self-driving car for instance, could generate huge amounts of real-time data on driving patterns, traffic congestion trends, charging cycles, and even an activity log of the passengers in the car. A self-driving car can be valuable in extrapolating data on the places you frequent and how much time you spend in such places.

However, under the current centralized data ecosystem, the data connected cars generate will be 'owned' and under the control of your car manufacturer. As at December 2016, Tesla Motors revealed that it had collected more than 1.3 billion miles of data from Autopilot-equipped vehicles operating under diverse road and weather conditions around the world. Google's self-driving car project Waymo reports that it's self-driving cars have logged about 3 million autonomous miles on the road and more than 1 billion simulated miles in the lab.

Going by prediction that the number of IoT devices will jump to 22.5 billion devices by 2021, one can begin to imagine the astronomical volume of data that will be generated in the IoT ecosystem. Interestingly, Streamr's blockchain solution makes it easier to leverage the data.

Ahmed Banafa, IoT expert and lecturer at San Jose State University in his report on a Secure Model for IoT with Blockchain noted that “Blockchain is promising for IoT security for the same reasons it works for cryptocurrency: It provides assurances that data is legitimate, and the process that introduces new data is well-defined.”

Streamr's vision is to create an ecosystem in which anyone or any device can publish the data they generate to data streams encoded on a blockchain. In essence, you own the data that your IoT devices generate and storing such data on Blockchain ensures the provenance and confidentiality of your data. Other IoT devices, individuals, businesses, and organizations can in turn subscribe to the data streams to access the data for use in microservices, smart contracts, and intelligent data pipelines.

To encourage the growth of the data stream ecosystem, Streamr has created a digital token called DATAcoin, which will be used to access data, facilitate services, and compensate the providers of the nodes of the blockchain network. People will use DATAcoin to purchase of data on the Streamr network and you can expect to be paid for any data you generate when it is accessed by other users in the system.

Thomas Hardjono, chief technology officer of MIT Connection Science notes that a data marketplace is essential for blockchain technology to bridge the gap between its early adopters and the mass market. In his words, “just using blockchain to register a device doesn’t get you much… we need infrastructure to manage devices and control who has access to data.”

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