For those who aren’t aware, the Internet of Things (IoT) is a network of physical “things” that connect to the web and feed data to applications and even exchange data with other devices. These are everything from household items to industrial tools.
By 2025 the world is expected to have over 80 billion devices spread across the globe. This means that there will be even greater computing power in the hands of the people. With everyone connected to the Internet, it is as if the entire world functions as a large brain, with neurons connecting altogether to make up unified thought.
However, while there is great hope for the future, IoT is currently in a state that it is nowhere near as smooth and interoperable as we imagine. Connections are clunky, many devices cannot talk to each other, and the value created by connected devices are not owned by the users that own these devices. Moreover, when there are so many connections at once, the question remains: who is in charge of all of this power?
Building a Connected World
IoT is extremely fragmented right now. Most IoT devices and applications today run on Cloud-based, centralized infrastructure. Most assume this infrastructure is operated exclusively by the world’s largest technology companies, but according to Statista there were 620 IoT platforms in 2019, exemplifying the true fragmentation in today’s IoT. Regardless of this fragmentation, tech titans like Amazon do own the largest pieces of the pie of the IoT market: from household devices like Alexa to flying delivery drones used by enterprises. This vast and fractured IoT landscape is a major bottleneck to innovation and collaboration, and must be solved before our vision for a connected world becomes reality.
And this is where companies like IoTeX come in. IoTeX is a decentralized platform aimed at creating and empowering open economics for machines. The aim is to connect real-world people and the budding machine economy, creating interactions based on trust, free will, and transparent incentives.
In other words, IoTeX strives to be a decentralized trust fabric that connects the real world to the machine economy. This works by assigning all things on the IoTeX blockchain from humans, software, and machines alike a decentralized identity (DID) that allows them to interact peer-to-peer (P2P) without the need for a middle man. With IoTeX, the future would look something like so:
- Humans will be able to interact and transact with machines directly
- Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAO) will operate based on real world data, services, and payments from trusted machines
- Competitors will start collaborating in data sharing and generating collective intelligence
What Makes IoTeX Unique?
IoTeX is more than just a blockchain — it is a full-stack platform that enables trusted data from trusted devices for use in trusted applications. Not only is the IoTeX platform fast and reliable, but it is also EVM- & Web3-compatible. This increases its flexibility and allows for the building of DApps and DAOs using common and open programming languages like Solidity. As a platform that was built from scratch and tailor-fit for IoT, the IoTeX platform is fully decentralized and uniquely enables “real world” use cases on blockchain for the first time.
On top of that, IoTeX uses its native IOTX token for network governance and as gas for all transactions. It also employs an exciting deflationary tokenomics design called Burn-Drop, where IOTX is burned and airdropped to stakers after every new device is registered to the network. With Burn-Drop, the more devices connect to the IoTeX network, the more IOTX is burned, and the more the total supply of IOTX is reduced.
Who Are the Founders of IoTeX?
The co-founders of IoTeX are Raullen Chai, Qevan Guo, and Jing Sun.
Before co-founding IoTeX, Raullen Chai received his PhD in Cryptography from the University of Waterloo and began his career in Silicon Valley leading tech teams at Oracle and Google Most recently, Raullen was the Head of crypto R&D and engineering security at Uber.
Qevan Guo received his PhD in Computer Vision from the National University of Singapore and was an early employee at Facebook, where he worked as a research scientist and engineering manager for 10+ years.
Jing Sun, the Head of Investment and Ecosystem for the company. With experience as an Angel Investor and Managing Partner for several firms, she brings a lot to the table as one of the founding members to the company.
Own Your Data
With safety, security, and privacy at the forefront of IoTeX’s mission, they have already demonstrated several real world examples of giving power back to the people, with their #OwnYourData initiative. Powering the world’s first #OwnYourData devices, such as Ucam and Pebble Tracker, the diagram below provides insight into how users can gain ownership over their own data, and more importantly how this owned data can be used on IoTeX.
The DeFIoT Vision
IoTeX’s mission is not only to enable people and businesses to own their IoT data, but also to utilize, tokenize, and monetize their data as digital assets — a concept they call DeFIoT or decentralized finance for the Internet of Things.
If data is the new gold, then our IoT devices are the goldmines. DeFIoT encapsulates IoTeX’s mission to unlock the utility and value of IoT data. Unlike the recent wave of DeFi assets, which derive their value from speculation, DeFIoT will derive their value from real world IoT datasets and devices with real utility. Three major DeFIoT opportunities are outlined below, which will greatly expand the capabilities of what can be done on blockchain.
IoTeX eventually aims to power IoT-enabled products and services on their own platform. Furthermore, they will also ‘serve’ verifiable IoT data to other blockchain networks as part of the multi-chain future. What this does is help to expand the entire industry and improve what is truly capable with IoT technology.
Final Thoughts
Projects like IoTeX increase people’s trust for IoT. Undoubtedly a project that excels in the IoT blockchain space has such potential in reshaping our global economy. And even in terms of IOTX price action, the sky’s the limit.
Tokens like IOTX which support the way of the future can be staked on RockX at amazing yields. Be a part of the future by helping build a more connected world.
