Blockchain is one of the main topics of the InnoVEX 2018 forum. In a series of keynote panels and a panel discussion, experts from around the world shared their insight on the exciting technology. One of the speakers in the topic is the Head of Engineering for IOTA Foundation, Edward Greve.
IOTA Foundation is a non-profit organization which provides blockchain based technologies and solutions for partners and people around the world. In January 2018, the IOTA Foundation signed an agreement with the Taipei City government to explore smart city solutions based on their technologies.
Data as a Commodity
Data is the source of revenue for multiple world leading companies, such as Facebook, Google, Microsoft, and many more. Currently these data collectors act like silos in the sense that the data they collected is aggregated, stored, and hoarded without any intent on sharing it with other parties. This deliberate limitation will prevent any developments which require leveraging data.
With so much focus given on the digital aspect of businesses, machine economy will soon be a reality. A problem that arose is uniting the devices in the machine economy and the data they provide. Currently many devices operate on their own protocols which only the manufacturers or other related parties can utilize. As the currently existing and operating devices lack a standardized protocol, data leverage will require a third party device or platform; so clearly machine economy is not yet achievable.
Turning Machine Economy into Reality
Machine economy is one step beyond digital payment systems, the devices involved will also need to be autonomous economic agents. This means making autonomous payments and receiving the payments securely and seamlessly.
The data transmitted by the devices will need to be completely trustworthy. In addition, the transaction itself will need to be seamless; meaning that the transfer and receipt of funds will need to happen instantaneously. Thankfully this level of data transfer is already achieved to a certain degree with traditional means such as debit/ credit cards or NFC cards. A smarter business model is also necessary where people can come together and make the machine economy a reality.
How Blockchain Helps
The concerns on security can be mitigated by blockchain because of the multiple safeguards it possesses: datasets are shared & replicated among all parties; every party can verify the datasets/ other participants in the network; tampered datasets are excluded; and an immutable single source of truth is established. However, blockchain still have a few issues that prevent it from propagating. The main issue is that blockchain’s transaction and validation process is very linear. The blocks which are an intrinsic element to blockchain protocols easily turn to bottlenecks. As the number and volume of transactions utilizing blockchain increase, the transaction fees will increase while the speed decreases.
There is a fixed amount of time for data to pass between each block. An increasing number of transactions will increase the number of blocks and processing time because of the inherent linear process. There is also a limit on how much information can fit in a block. As transaction information is prioritized by how much fee the participants are willing to pay, this will mean certain transactions will be deprioritized and delayed or will incur a hefty fee.
Mr. Greve likened blockchain to P2P applications such as BitTorrent. The main difference is that P2P applications transfer only data between 2 people who remain anonymous throughout the process in a secure manner while blockchain adds monetization to the system.
Monetize Data, Add Value, Innovate
In relation to the aforementioned data collection silos; Mr. Greve suggested a way to create a data marketplace. This can be done through a platform or a web portal where companies or startups can purchase data through sensors connected to the network. This will also increase the private users or citizens’ interest in owning certain smart devices or sensors, because they can then gain value or currency from it.
The purchasing and selling of data in this way is not necessarily done through a new token or cryptocurrency as long as an existing token with wider standardized platform can suffice. The IOTA Foundation hopes that a standardized platform can be achieved across the industries which can rely on them for the new IoT economy.
Watch the full keynote here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ex8rp1d_PWY
More Blockchain Insights in the InnoVEX Blockchain Saloon 2018
The InnoVEX team will host an event discussing blockchain in 2018. We will invite speakers to hold a panel discussion on its applications in fintech, the legal implications of blockchain, and more. More information will be announced on our Facebook and Twitter pages.
InnoVEX will Return on May 29, 2019
InnoVEX 2018 hosted 388 startups, 17,867 visitors, and over 200 global investors; many of whom gave a positive impression of InnoVEX. After a stellar 2018, InnoVEX 2019 will be held in late May. As there will be a new exhibition hall for COMPUTEX, the scale of InnoVEX is also expected to grow even larger than this year. The registration of startups and speakers will be announced in September 2018.