Hello Steemians, today i'm going to be talking about a digital currency, the IOTA, the Internet of Things and Tangle, the system on which IOTA operates. The IOTA, founded by four outstanding individuals; David Sonstebo, Domink Schiener, Sergey Ivancheglo, and Serguei Popov in 2015, is a public distributed ledger designed specifically for the Internet of Things. I've been doing a bit of research on this coin for some time now so for those of you who haven't heard about it or are not so familiar with this currency, just sit back, relax and enjoy the breakdown.
We'll start of with a little intro about the Internet of Things (IoT)...
The IoT
In the world of technology, the Internet of Things is a project which has peaked the interest of many top organizations, on a world scale, it's success would be a huge step in making the world more connected, our economies more stable, government more transparent and accountable, it's use and advantages are numerous and I believe are still yet to be comprehended fully as the concept of it alone is outstanding, simply genius!. Imagine a world where everything you do from the time you wake up to the time you sleep is automated, "smart." A world of connected devices and people, It's a relationship that will exist in three phases; between people-people, people-things and things-things. From your refrigerator to your television, cellphones, computers, washing machines, coffee makers, lamps, e.t.c. these things will all be connected as long as they can access the internet.
Broadband Internet and the IoT
Of course, so many devices interacting together would definitely constitute large and widespread data consumption. Broadband Internet, known for its high access speed which is faster and better than the traditional dial-up internet connection has become very widely available and its cost is ever decreasing, most devices being produced have internet sensors like wifi installed and as such are capable of being connected to the internet. With such giant strides towards a world of connectivity, digital currencies came along to make this process a whole lot faster and now the success of the IoT is seemingly more realistic than it was some years ago.
Cryptocurrency will speed up the IoT
The success of cryptocurrency has proven that decentralization is real and will one way or another be achieved by our society, the blockchain is proof of that. A digital currency was one of the missing pieces in the IoT technology. It's existence has opened a new world of possibilities and has also served in speeding up the development process.
Blockchain tech may not be sufficient
If we consider a world where billions of devices are connected together, constantly sharing information and making exchanges, it would call into question, the ability of infrastructures and services on ground to manage such a system. Micro-transactions based on blockchain technology brought a new dawn to the economy of the world. The introduction of the bitcoin and several other altcoins has definitely as is still contributing its own quota in reshaping and tackling problems in our economy and society. Some of these currencies would play a part in the IoT platform but however they have not shown significant ability to produce real time micro-transactions. The reason for this is that all these currencies are based on the blockchain and bitcoin or etherum development and as such pose certain problems:
The blockchain is not able to scale a very high number of transactions per second and at the same time provide infrastructure that isnt daunting in nature on hardware that is easily accessible or in other words, lightweight. This is very crucial when considering the IoT because of well, its definition.
Fluctuation of transaction fees, mainly on the up-rise as a result of scaling.
This is where IOTA comes in.
IOTA and the Tangle System
I gave a definition earlier on about what the IOTA is, what I didn't say is the mechanism with which the currency operates. You see, instead of using blocks in the blockchain like other digital currencies do, it uses a directed acrylic graph structure called the Tangle. This system is a blockchain of course but without blocks, the blocks are replaced be the DAG (directed acrylic graph) structure.
The typical blockchain works in such a way that transactions are fitted into a block and crypto miners verify those transactions. However, as transactions increase, the work load on the miners increase and as such transaction fees go up as well. In Tangle, it is a different case, in that each transaction sets up a new block that is verified by itself and in order to carry out this verification, two randomly chosen transactions have to be verified by the block first. Tangle therefore brings about zero-cost transactions and eliminates the problem of scalability.
It would however be to the disadvantage of miners if the Tangle system became the norm for cryptocurrencies as the whole system works on eliminating transaction fees that are set up because of the miners who verify these transactions, there would be little or no use for them anymore. IOTA thus creates a self-sustaining environment for cryptocurrency.
The IOTA offers the following:
- Zero-Cost transaction fee
- Scalability is Indefinite
- Better Transaction Rates
- Transactions can be carried out offline
This is where IOTA currently stands on the crypto market
With all that has been said about the Internet of Things, It's easy to see how the IOTA has been adapted to suit the pressing concerns of the initiative in terms of trade and exchange. This currency can efficiently manage machine-to-machine transactions in real-time and what's more? at zero-cost!
There is so much in play for the Internet of Things movement, Smart Transport, Smart Homes, Smart Cities, e.t.c. the development or challenge here is not in the production of smart devices, but in their level of communication.
The essence of this post is purely informative not specifically to those who are savvy with cryptocurrencies but so that it is understood by all.
I hope you all enjoyed the read.
Thanks for stopping by!
