The Internet of Things (IoT) is a system used for the distribution of information without the need for human interaction. There, information on computing devices, objects, humans, animals and all sorts of things using a unique identifier can be shared over a network.

At its most basic level, a thing in the Internet of Things can be a patient wired to a heart monitor, a cat implanted with a tracking chip, or a car using sensors to alert drivers when the tire pressure is low. It is an evolved technology achieved through the merging of wireless technologies, microservices, and the Internet.

Let’s look at the traditional methods of health monitoring compared to the IoT-integrated methods in order to achieve a greater understanding. Smartwatches now have the ability to track aspects such as heart rate, physical activity and inactivity, calories burned, and much more. The watch, in this case, would be a human’s unique identifier. The processes and collecting and processing the generated data, which would take a substantial amount of time in the past, are now streamlined through IoT.

How Does IoT Benefit from Blockchain?

The major concerns associated with IoT are security and privacy. Blockchain addresses these issues through its use of a distributed ledger. Blockchain has the ability to track innumerable numbers of smart devices and log the data they collect on either a public or private ledger.

The ledger is shared across all the users of the network, and therefore cannot be altered by a single individual without a general consensus. It runs on cryptographic algorithms which are extremely difficult to decipher, making it practically impossible to hack. Basically, blockchain helps to close the gaps in security associated with IoT.

Where IoT automates the collection of data, blockchain automates its security and authenticity. As shown by OpenLedger, blockchain paired with IoT can bring substantial benefits to various industries: