Using Blockchain in IoT: Is It a Smooth Road Ahead for Real?

Abstract

The rise of our smart life, along with the popularity of smart devices, has made the Internet of Things (IoT) a prevalent research topic in recent years. Even though it increases the intelligence level of society to a very great extent, it still has many flaws, especially when it comes to the security domain. The birth of blockchain has brought a new evolution for IoT. The decentralized and traceable feature of blockchain is entirely in sync with the need for the decentralized IoT devices in the future. Currently, there are many applications of blockchain that include but not limited to, smart homes, smart cities, banking, insurance, and financial services. However, there are still many challenges regarding the use of blockchain in IoT, as many things require to be proved and realized. Therefore, the paper is going to research the challenges of blockchain in IoT to find out about its causes and the cures. The changes in the identity of IoT during its lifetime is also covered and how to supervise the governance of data and privacy in a smart device. Data protection law is also taken into consideration when it comes to legal and compliance issues. To solve these difficulties, several perspectives are worth considering, like how to optimize the data authentication, ways to secure communication, methods to improve the smart contract, etc. The paper also aims to help the people from the industry to have better clarity and understanding of the scope of using blockchain in IoT.