LightChain: On the Lightweight Blockchain for the Internet-of-Things

Abstract

The Internet of Things (IoT) and the blockchain are justly regarded as the technology for the future. The blockchain is a Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) solution which has enormous potential as can be seen in the numerous avenues it has been deployed. Simplistically, it is a decentralized database which can revolutionize the current centralized world we live. IoT is the interconnection of devices with mostly bounded resources. IoT applications are also distributed in nature thereby making it inevitable that the paths of the blockchain and IoT will cross in the future. Blockchain's DLT will eventually play a crucial role in how IoT devices will communicate. The Proof of Work (PoW) mechanism was the original consensus technique introduced in the first blockchain based application (Bitcoin). PoW guaranteed consensus in the network by verifying transactions. However, the PoW had deficiencies. The solving of the PoW puzzle is computationally expensive which has become an impediment in the potential marriage of IoT and blockchain. This predicament arises as IoT devices are plagued with limited resources. In this work, we address this issue by presenting an approach where IoT devices can combine their resources to solve PoW puzzles that they might not have been able to solve on their own. This would ensure a successful merger between the blockchain and the IoT.