Blockchain-based IoT alliance launched
Members of the alliance include Bosch, BNY Mellon, Cisco, Gemalto, U.S. Bank along with Bitse, Chronicled, ConsenSys, Ledger, Skuchain, Slock.it, HCM International of Foxconn Group, IOTA, Oaken Innovations, Qtum, Chain of Things, and Big Chain DB. The members are focused on “working together to advance IoT and blockchain” by leading pilots, publishing open source code, and coordinating standards and reference architecture.
The Alliance’s stated goal is the creation of a trusted IoT ecosystem that links cryptographic and registrant identities, along with metadata, to give any Internet-connected machine or product the equivalent of a digital, transferable ‘birth certificate’ that can be inventoried and managed across blockchain networks.
“A big part of realizing the potential of blockchain and distributed ledger technologies will be linking these secure virtual systems to secure physical IoT systems,” says Zaki Manian, Executive Director, Trusted IoT Alliance. “The Alliance’s vision is to support the creation of a secure, scalable, interoperable, and trusted IoT ecosystem and to become a key forum for enabling rapid development of mature IoT enabled blockchain use cases and specifications.”
The Alliance will house intellectual property and open-source tools and standards that support trusted digital identities for IoT-connected products. The tools and standards will be designed to allow enterprises to represent physical world “things” and “event logs” on a decentralized blockchain system.
Members of the group, which have been cooperating informally since December, have already published a common API to register “things” to both Hyperledger and Enterprise Ethereum blockchain networks. The Alliance says it plans to fund small grants to support open source development and is reviewing proposals from IoT and blockchain technologists.
In conjunction with the launch, venture funded blockchain startup Skuchain (Mountain View, CA) has announced the establishment of a working group to drive the development of a blockchain-enabled, trusted Internet of Things (IoT) for the supply chain. The specific purpose of the working group is to establish standards by which blockchain may serve as the security protocol for IoT devices in the supply chain context.
Skuchain says it has been working with its customers and partners to build frameworks for integrating sensor data with the blockchain using “Smart IoT Contracts,” and the Supply Chain Working Group will allow its existing effort to work with the wider Trusted IoT Alliance. According to the company, “blockchain-based open protocols can standardize the use of GPS, RFID, temperature, humidity, and other common sensors in the assembly line in a way that allows their data to securely automate actions.”
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