Integrating Blockchain and Edge Computing in Internet of Things: Brief Review and Open Issues

Abstract

Blockchain has catched significant attention and has been used in several contexts, like Internet of Things (IoT). Anyway, blockchain has a scalability problem that limits its capability to sustain services with several operations. Edge computing is an emerging computing paradigm introduced to distribute services at the network edge, leveraged by the need of meeting low response requirements, mainly for IoT applications. However, edge systems currently face challenges in their decentralized administration and security. The combination of edge computing and blockchain in IoT gives the possibility to solve these challenges. In this paper, we inquire the synergistic combination of blockchain with edge computing in the context of IoT systems. In detail, we first discuss about Edge Computing and its challenges. Then, we introduce the blockchain in Edge-based IoT and analyze several proposal present in the literature. In the end, we draw the open research direction.