This topic is all about the transformative potential of Blockchain. During the first part, we will mainly explore the potential for change in the application area Internet of Things. In the second part, we will present a supply chain application. We will now look at use cases with the perspective of change and transformation that is introduced by Blockchain. In the use case about foreign currency payment, a blockchain is established as an intermediary between international banks, enabling the faster and cheaper transfer of funds between different currencies. As a result, additional competitors for banks appear. A further use case concerns Smart Grids meaning local, blockchain-based grids transferring power between neighbors who produce energy and neighbors who need energy. By using those grids, traditional power providers could be replaced by the members of the network. In the use case Blockchain for Education, a blockchain is established to store digital certificates. The Blockchain provides counterfeit protection of the certificates meaning digital certificates could replace the unsecure paper-based certificates. The Internet of Things is a network of devices and a Blockchain could be established to facilitate coordination among interacting devices. Devices could be registered in the Blockchain, which makes them uniquely identifiable and empowers them to execute smart contracts. As an example, a weather station offers a data set containing values for temperature, humidity and wind speed. Occasional users could access these data for free but users that built weather services on top of the data set which regularly accesses the data would have to pay for it. These conditions are implemented in a smart contract, which is executed by the weather station. A different smart contract could be used by the weather station to trigger actions such as the need for specific maintenance. In sum, the Blockchain facilitates decentralized autonomous objects. Smart locks are a typical example for an IoT use case, since they enable a Blockchain to control physical objects. If the owner of a smart lock decides that he wants to rent an object of his, like a house, a car or a bike, he can use the lock to secure his property and document the price and deposit amount for a specific rental period in a smart contract on a blockchain. If someone wants to rent this object, this person can transfer the required price and deposit amount as a transaction on the blockchain, enforcing a smart contract, which automatically sends a virtual key to the phone of the renter, enabling her to open the smart lock with her phone. If the rental period is over, this again enforces a smart contract, which automatically returns the virtual key and re-transfers the deposit amount back to the renter. Smart locks are currently being developed as “Slocks” by the German company Slock.it. The automatic certification of products or machines are important use cases in the Industrial Internet of Things. Let us take the simple example of a coffee machine, which is connected to a blockchain and which is sensing temperature and quality of the water as well as the amount of coffee powder used. The coffee machine sends the data to a smart contract in the blockchain. As a result, the value for the quality of the produced coffee is returned and graphically displayed for the user. This information also gives some hints as to when the coffee machine has to be inspected. Such a mechanism could be used in Industrial IoT to certify products, which are produced by machines or to automatically certify machines based on their operating data. In these use cases, Blockchain documents sensor values as well as certificates and automates monitoring processes. In summary, the transformative potential of blockchain lies in the automation of processes, the decentralization of business processes and the development of new business models such as usage-based billing.
