Internet of Things

Internet of Things & Driipchain

10 min readJun 20, 2021

Things have evolved due to the convergence of multiple technologies, real-time analytics, machine learning, ubiquitous computing, commodity sensors, and embedded systems.

The Internet of things (IoT) describes the network of physical objects—a.k.a. "things"—that are embedded with sensors, software, and other technologies for the purpose of connecting and exchanging data with other devices and systems over the Internet.

There are a number of serious concerns about dangers in the growth of the IoT, especially in the areas of privacy and security, and consequently industry and governmental moves to address these concerns have begun including the development of international standards.

Blockchain and the Internet of Things: the IoT blockchain opportunity and challenge

In terms of Private Blockchain, IoT enables devices across the Internet to send data to private blockchain networks to create tamper-resistant records of shared transactions. Yah The Blockchain enables your business partners to share and access IoT data with you — but without the need for central control and management.

Blockchain technology, a form of Distributed Ledger Technology, has been gaining enormous attention in areas beyond its cryptocurrency roots since more or less 2014: blockchain and the Internet of Things (IoT), blockchain and cybersecurity, blockchain and finance, blockchain and logistics, you name it. In this article we look at the IoT blockchain opportunities, evolutions.

As we wrote before it seems as if blockchain technology or, better, Distributed Ledger Technology, is about to change all aspects of digital business and according to some such as Don Tapscott, blockchain is a bigger deal than the Internet. Combine blockchain and IoT and you have two bigger deals than the Internet who need each other for numerous reasons we explain in this IoT blockchain overview.

Blockchain (there are many blockchains in fact and it’s more than the technology powering Cryptocurrency such as DriipCoin), has been mentioned by virtually almost all research firms as a rapidly accelerating evolution and it’s not just about financial services companies, the scope in which we tackled blockchain outside of its cryptocurrency roots the first time (namely FinTech or financial technology). In fact, the convergence of blockchain and the Internet of Things is on the agenda for many companies and there are existing implementations, solutions and initiatives in several areas, outside of IoT and financial services too

The distributed Internet of Things meets Distributed Ledger Technology

As Frank Gens said in IDC’s 2017 worldwide IT technology FutureScape webcast, blockchain is also becoming important in third generation security, to name just one example.

And since quite some time blockchain is increasingly being looked upon in an Internet of Things context. Blockchains have many benefits. They are not the answer to all challenges of the digital economy as sometimes is said but it’s certain that they will play an increasing role in the Internet of Things.

Forrester’s Dan Bieler mentioned blockchain’s potential for IoT solutions. In a nutshell:

As Internet of Things applications are by definition distributed it’s only normal that the distributed ledger technology, which blockchain is, will play a role in how devices will communicate directly between eachother (keeping a ledger and thus trail of not just devices but also how they interact and, potentially, in which state they are and how they are ‘handled’ in the case of tagged goods).

Blockchain is designed as a basis for applications that involve transaction and interactions. These can include smart contracts (smart contracts are automatically carried out when a specific condition is met, for instance regarding the conditions of goods or environmental conditions) or other smart applications that support specific Internet of Things processes. This way blockchain technology can improve not just compliance in the IoT but also IoT features and cost-efficiency.

The industry is not waiting and takes initiatives

It is still early days, Bieler says. That is certainly true. However, at the same time big tech companies are not waiting, probably one of the reasons Bieler advices to start looking at the combination of blockchain(s) and the Internet of Things. And they did and will continue to in 2018 and beyond.

IBM Blockchain, for instance, already allows to extend (private) blockchain into cognitive Internet of Things. In fact, ultimately it will be the combination of artificial intelligence, IoT and blockchain that will prove most interesting across industries and in myriad possible IoT applications. With blockchain we are pretty much adding to the changing digital infrastructure that powers so many evolutions and impacts so many areas, from analytics to security, in an environment that thus far was centralized.

Blockchain as the answer to IoT challenges

In the Spring of 2017, Nicolas Windpassinger, author of ‘Digitize or Die‘, an IoT book for digital transformation leaders, wrote about the practical aspects blockchain can address in IoT and how blockchain can accelerate the evolution of IoT.

Windpassinger: blockchain technology promises to be the missing link enabling peer-to-peer contractual behavior without any third party to “certify” the IoT transaction. It answers the challenge of scalability, single point of failure, time stamping, record, privacy, trust and reliability in a very consistent way.

Blockchain technology could provide a simple infrastructure for two devices to directly transfer a piece of property such as money or data between one another with a secured and reliable time-stamped contractual handshake. To enable message exchanges, IoT devices will leverage smart contracts which then model the agreement between the two parties. This feature enables the autonomous functioning of smart devices without the need for centralized authority. If you then extend this peer-to-peer transaction to human to human or human to objects/platforms, you end up with a fully distributed trustworthy digital infrastructure.

Blockchain + IoT across industries: the insurance example

Blockchain is being tested in several industries. And sometimes we see that in those industries there is a link between blockchain and IoT within the specific industry. Point in case: blockchain and IoT in insurance.

The main use case of blockchain in insurance are smart contracts and the enhancement of several processes such as claims management. Other applications include fraud management, legally required applications (blockchain is thoroughly looked at in the legal sector as well) and even the usage of technologies in an insurance context.

In the scope of blockchain and IoT it’s interesting to look at the combination of blockchain and the Internet of Things as it’s used in insurance and will increasingly be, moving beyond the pure telematics model to the connection of real-time IoT data in various perspectives for various intelligent automated insurance policy applications.

Although this might seem like a very future application of blockchain in the insurance industry it is worth noting that from an IoT investment perspective, early 2017 IDC forecasted that insurance would be among the fastest growing industries in the period until 2021, albeit with a major focus on telematics (where smart contracts of course make sense too), especially as we’ll see ever more smart cars and so forth.

IoT and blockchain: the broader picture and future

And it doesn’t stop with somewhat more advanced scenarios in the context of insurance (whereby we only just mentioned the tip of the iceberg). With IoT and blockchain we enter a space of pretty unlimited possibilities.

The reason: as mentioned, IoT obviously doesn’t stand on its own and needs to be seen in the broader context of what it enables across various use cases and industries and the additional technologies that are simply needed to make IoT work for whatever reason. Add to that ongoing convergence on technological, data and business levels and the picture becomes broader.

IoT and blockchain – from manufacturing and security to ERP and autonomous decisions

Previously we quoted Frank Gens on the role of blockchain in third generation security and mentioned how the combination of AI, IoT and blockchain will matter. These are of course not the only technologies that fit in the scope of IoT or that will matter in this mix, depending on scope and systems.

In the context of technologies in the broadest sense do, for instance, think about the convergence of IT and OT whereby operational technologies and manufacturing technologies (and standards and protocols) are essentially revolving around data (capturing, making interoperable, analyzing, leveraging for immediate purposes, leveraging in broader ecosystems whereby data exchanges and blockchain certainly also are looked at in an IoT data perspective and beyond), increasingly autonomous decisions based upon data analysis (whereby an automated interaction can be seen as some form of contract in the non-legal sense but in the sense of condition-based).

In this context we obviously also need to mention Industry 4.0 and its end-to-end data approach. And of course also the evolutions in logistics (more with a case below). In both Industry 4.0 and smart logistics there isn’t just a focus on the end-to-end data model but also on autnonomous decisions. Yet, as the case below indicates there are ample opportunities in a far less complex context.

We also need to mention security again: IoT, blockchain and next generation security cannot just cover cybersecurity as we know it but also security challenges on, for example, a plant floor or industrial environment level whereby critical infrastructure is increasingly attractive for ‘the bad guys’ but also different than security as we know it.

Add robotics. Add systems, such as ERP. Then there are systems. Take ERP. According to IDC IoT, blockchain and cognitive computing are three pillars for the next generation of ERP, known as Intelligent ERP. The list does go on.

Key Words

Industry 4.0
IoT
Digital transformation
Edge computing
IoT technology stack
Digitization and digitalization
Customer life cycle
Data lakes
Industrial IoT
AI
Big data
Home automation
Operational technology
Smart grids
Digital supply chain
Cloud computing
Smart industry
Smart cities
Digital twins
Blockchain technology
LPWA
Digital transformation strategy
Information management
Predictive maintenance
Digital business
NB-IoT
Cyber resilience
IIoT
LoRa
IoT cases
Smart meters
Public cloud spending
IoT platforms
Customer-centricity
Edge spending

IoT and blockchain – from smart buildings to the energy industry

You also can look deeper into specific applications and industries: smart buildings, for instance.

Among the main building management and building energy management evolutions is convergence, as is the case in so many areas where IoT comes in. One of the areas where this happens is leveraging energy coming from local solar or wind systems and microgrids in the scope of energy efficiency and facility optimization.

NIST: ‘the recording of autonomous, machine-to-machine transactions regarding electricity use is another blockchain application which would take advantage of digital platform opportunities and changing business models for tracing transactions on the smart grid‘.

As energy becomes an increasingly digital, decentralized (!) and IoT-enabled given on various levels, including sensors as you can read in this interview on IoT and critical power buildings, one can easily imagine a scenario whereby excess renewable energy could be sold and bought via blockchain. In fact, it’s one of many examples that is given in the NIST report on blockchain technology, presented early 2018.

The report also mentions blockchain applications for the recording of autonomous, machine-to-machine transactions regarding electricity usage.

IoT and blockchain: ever more scenarios and use cases in a world of convergence
You can easily come up with several lists of applications where IoT and blockchain play here, whether it’s in the scope of the electricity industry and selling/buying and/or smart contracts or any other context where it matters to record autonomous, machine-to-machine transactions.

This could be for security and control reasons with ongoing optimization, predictive maintenance improvements and AI-enabled ways to further enhance the decision-making while enabling again new applications when, for instance combined with digital twins.

Essentially, you can look at all areas where it makes sense to do so, typically where there are many transactions or important transactions whereby one application needs another and/or is built upon others and novel technologies with data and transactions (including contracts) at the center.

Merging IoT & DriipChain

DriipChain is known to be built on an hybrid functioning system with a dual blockchain technology (Public and Private).

Just like most Private blockchains, DriipChain has some major functions like those Blockchain Technologies, In fact, the convergence of blockchain and the Internet of Things is on the agenda for many companies and there are existing implementations, solutions and initiatives in several areas, outside of IoT and financial services too.

And since quite some time blockchain is increasingly being looked upon in an Internet of Things context. Blockchains have many benefit.

Have you read?

About Driipcoin Phase Two
Why Governments Are Afraid of Cryptocurrencies?
What is Driipa?
Digital Currency vs Cryptocurrency
Future Of Blockchain Technology: 7 Predictions for 2021
Theft On The Blockchain Vs DriipChain
Blockchain Trends Everyone Must Know About in 2021 — Latest Updated
The Adoption Of Blockchain is likely to grow in 2021
Government & Blockchain Technology
Concept Of DriipChain (1)
Concept Of DriipChain (2)
DriipChain-For-Service (DFS) [1]
A-Z Of CryptoCurrency
Economics Of DriipCoin
Decentralized Application (dapp)
Driipa Foundation is building a whole new world on the Blockchain
Decentralized Finance (DeFi)