CoinDesk reports that IBM has unveiled the draft paper for its Autonomous Decentralized Peer-to-Peer Telemetry (ADEPT) project, which leverages Blockchain technology to power the next generation of the Internet of Things.
The joint project with Samsung leverages three protocols of decentralization to propose a scalable network: BitTorrent (file sharing), Ethereum (smart contracts) and TeleHash (peer-to-peer messaging).
The network would interconnect a multitude of devices used in our everyday lives, optimizing their performance in peer-to-peer fashion. For example, a washing machine is manufactured, registered on the blockchain and communicates with its immediate and external environment on matters of maintenance, water consumption, detergent needs and software updates. All while keeping its owner in the loop through his/her mobile device.
The paper acknowledges that one of the biggest challenges to Bitcoin technology is scalability. A mass-scale interconnected world of devices poses a much bigger challenge than the relatively limited network of bitcoin transactions we have today. Ongoing work to make blockchain technology more scalable is cited. In addition, some elements of the network that have low memory or storage capabilities would play the role of "light peers."
Out of the numerous Bitcoin 2.0 technologies, the project team found Ethereum to have the best potential. They stated:
"Ethereum’s improvements to the traditional blockchain approach of Bitcoin and the Turing complete scripting languages they introduced were extremely compelling. The ability to create binding contracts and potentially Decentralized Autonomous Organizations led us to pick Ethereum as our PoC’s blockchain technology."
They do note, however, challenges posed by Ethereum's design, which they say are being addressed as the protocol moves toward full launch this year.
