Internet of Things Unlocked – How IOTA solves the fuel issue.

The next big change to our lives is likely to be facilitated through the broader application of the so called “Internet of Things” or IoT.  It has been defined as follows:

“The internet of things, or IoT, is a system of interrelated computing devices, mechanical and digital machines, objects, animals or people that are provided with unique identifiers (UIDs ) and the ability to transfer data over a network without requiring human-to-human or human-to-computer interaction.

A thing in the internet of things can be a person with a heart monitor implant, a farm animal with a biochip transponder, an automobile that has built-in sensors to alert the driver when tire pressure is low or any other natural or man-made object that can be assigned an IP address and is able to transfer data over a network.

Increasingly, organizations in a variety of industries are using IoT to operate more efficiently, better understand customers to deliver enhanced customer service, improve decision-making and increase the value of the business.”

Big data and micropayments will be the fuel for this to be all it can be.  The access, trust / quality, security, ownership and commercialisation of that data and commercial returns for providers will decide how that fuel supply works.  A very simple current world example is Google Maps telling you of a quicker route because others using Google Maps are held up in a traffic jam.  That info may only be available to Google and its users of its Maps and Google gets no immediate commercial return for what just saved you 20 minutes.  There are also growing concerns about Google knowing where you are all the time and hence the security of that data.  What if Google were commercially incentivised to securely share that data via micropayments per data unit?

When we announced the addition of IOTA to our offer of cryptocurrencies for trade through Ainslie Wealth, we explained it (in part) as follows:

“IOTA was developed to enable the “paradigm shift” to the Internet of Things by establishing a standardized “Ledger of Everything.” Simply put, this means the cryptocurrency will enable data exchange between sensor-equipped machines that populate the Internet of Things.

IOTA’s cryptocurrency – mIOTA – will enable micropayment transactions between connected devices.”

IOTA themselves state their vision as follows:

“The IOTA Foundation's vision extends to many different realms which are all dependent on access to a single source of truth. Data is only as valuable as it is valid. Ensuring what is true is precisely what Distributed Ledger Technology enables. IOTA is a protocol that achieves consensus on the state of matters in a network. By having a cryptographically secure source of unified truth, we envisage a grand technological Cambrian explosion of innovation to arise from it.

Our vision is to enable all connected devices through verification of truth and transactional settlements which incentivize devices to make available its properties and data in real time. This gives birth to entirely new general purpose applications and value chains.”

This is a classic example of real world use of the security and efficient trustless payment foundation of blockchain (or distributed ledger) technology.

Earlier this week Nuggets News interviewed the Co Founder of IOTA, Dominik Schiener, in what we thought was a fascinating insight into the future of not just IOTA but all of our lives.  We think it’s 30 minutes well worth your time over the weekend.  You can watch it by clicking here.

Ainslie Wealth allow you to buy IOTA over-the-counter (lock price and then pay with either cash or bank transfer) and have it stored on one of our completely cold Ainslie Crypto Wallets included in your trade.  If you aren’t in Brisbane you can download IOTA’s native (and beautifully simple) Trinity wallet app (here) on your phone and we simply deposit your remote purchase to that wallet.