Bitcoin and Internet of Things (IoT) are
the two buzz words in the tech sphere at the moment. Bitcoin is
something which we always keep talking about on this site. Internet of
Things, not so much. But with the introduction of Bitcoin 2.0 and other
upcoming alternatives like Ethereum, we will be forced to discuss about
IoT soon. After all, the IoT will be made possible by Bitcoin technology
in the coming days.
What is Internet of Things?
Internet of Things (IoT)
is a concept where the objects and equipment area embedded with
electronic sensors to create a network. These “smart” equipment can
communicate with each other, its owners and manufacturers. The network
will enable different objects to coordinate with each other and users
will be able to remotely operate and control them as well.
Blockchain and IoT
Blockchain was created as a
decentralized ledger for recording bitcoin transaction. Bitcoin mining
is done by a huge global network of miners connected to the Blockchain.
Apart from transaction records, Blockchain can also store other
non-transactional data, and this property is already being utilized by
few Bitcoin 2.0 applications for records and database verification and
management.
Blockchain is used by both Bitcoin and the new Ethereum
platform. Being a P2P protocol, Blockchain is ideal for supporting a
large number of equipment talking to each other or communicating with
the manufacturers and owners at regular intervals by creating online
records of their status.
Progress so Far
The Bitcoin technology company, 21 Inc.
has started working in that direction. The company has recently
announced the launch of its new BitShare chips. These chips can be
embedded into any device that can connect to the internet. These
embedded chips turns the devices into mining platforms, thereby
establishing a connection to the Blockchain. Once connected, they can
push alerts and notifications on to the Blockchain and communicate with
other devices in the network.
Ether, thought technologically similar
has a different purpose. Ether completely concentrates up on the
technical part of the Bitcoin and Blockchain network. While the value of
Bitcoin translates to fiat currency, Ether’s value is associated with
computing power. Ether is the tender used to access cloud storage or
processing power to run Blockchain application. Ether network is made up
of thousands of computers, contributing their computing power to the
network. Ethereum software platform provides an application development
environment for developers to create Blockchain based applications that
work on Ether network. These applications will communicate with other
devices in the Ether and run using the computing power contributed by
these devices. Ethereum is working with IBM and Samsung to create an IoT
environment on Ether. Ether is becoming the preferred network because
of reduced computing costs, increased security and privacy.
In this age of cryptocurrency, the value
of technology behind these digital currencies has grown bigger than the
digital currency itself.
Source : newsbtc
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