Blockchain is undermining Big Tech companies and cloud providers, particularly when it comes to the Internet of Things.
Big Tech has built trillion-dollar empires selling user data. Blockchain can change that by democratizing the data and machine economy.
Historically, machine economies have failed to garner traction due to the infrastructure and capital requirements needed to operationalize them. Blockchain changes that by providing users, businesses and developers with an end-to-end solution to distribute, orchestrate and monetize large numbers of smart devices as part of a unified machine network.
Smart devices and machines on the blockchain will provide an opportunity to return data ownership to the people, enabling them to do what they wish with their property — including monetizing it. Blockchain-based IoT projects offer greater trust, security, interoperability and scalability than their predecessors, and they generate new efficiencies and business value by drawing on the data supplied by IoT devices and sensors.
A decentralized backbone, purpose-built to enable billions of machines on the blockchain, is what we need to democratize the machine economy/IoT industry and remove it from the domain of Big Tech. The IoT machine economy would require a combination of blockchain, secure hardware and confidential computing to empower user-owned devices, apps and services:
Secure hardware captures and signs real-world data that anyone can verify and trust.
Real-world data oracles then bring this verifiable data to the blockchain in a trusted manner.
Decentralized identity enables humans and machines to own their data as digital assets they can earn and trade using DApps.
