IoT WITH BLOCKCHAIN TECHNOLOGY

IoT is changing our lives as we know it, even if you don’t believe you have truly felt its
effects yet. However, with significant advancement in the IoT sphere, come issues with data and
information security. Not only are our technologies improving, but hackers and cybercriminals are
finding new, high-tech ways to breach secure and private data. For instance, a connected healthcare
device that collects patient information and is sent back to doctors for analysis, all run through the
Internet, making this data a prime target for cybercriminals. It creates an entry point for hackers
all too eager to gain access to such information.

Although connected devices and IoT have insurmountable benefits, they often lack the security
and authentication necessities we need to keep user information secure and private. To keep users
safe, better security must be developed, maintained, and become the standard for IoT and
connected devices.

This is where Blockchain comes into play. Blockchain can track data collected by sensors and
block the ability for cybercriminals to duplicate that data with other malicious forms of data. IoT
also provides the ability to exchange information and data through a specific Blockchain, rather
than going through a third-party system. A third party system opens up even more doors for data
and information to be breached, which is almost eliminated with a Blockchain.

Since Blockchains can never be changed or manipulated and all chains are stamped with a unique
signature, this makes it much harder for hackers to access and gain control of that information.
The information in a Blockchain is also stored in many different locations at once, also helping to
prevent private data from being leaked and accessed.

Companies Who Use Smart Packaging

Amcor

Amcor is a leader in the intelligent packaging industry. They have packaging for anything from
food and beverage to household items to pharmaceuticals. Amcor is committed to creating
packaging that helps protect products, extend their shelf life, and reduce waste.
Ball Corporation

Ball Corporation makes metal packaging for foods, beverages, household items, and more. They
serve both the government and commercial customers. They believe in creating products that are
environmentally friendly, recyclable, and have added features that help preserve food freshness.

Crown Holdings

Crown Holdings is all about packaging innovation and enhancing the customer experience. They
have developed dozens of food and beverage packaging tech, they are specifically dedicated to
creating sustainable metal packaging that preserves perishable items in the safest way possible.

BLOCK CHAIN BASED VOTING SYSTEM

 A blockchain-based voting system is a system that uses blockchain technology to secure

and verify the integrity of the voting process. Blockchain is a distributed ledger technology
that enables secure, transparent, and tamper-proof record-keeping.
 In a blockchain-based voting system, each vote is recorded as a transaction on the
blockchain, and the identity of the voter is verified using digital signatures or other
cryptographic methods. Once the vote is recorded, it cannot be altered or deleted, ensuring
the integrity of the voting process.
 Blockchain-based voting systems can offer several advantages over traditional voting
systems. They can provide greater transparency and security, reducing the risk of fraud and
ensuring the accuracy of the results. They can also enable more efficient and cost-effective
voting processes, reducing the need for intermediaries and manual processing.
 However, there are also challenges and potential drawbacks to blockchain-based voting
systems. One concern is the potential for cyber-attacks, which could compromise the
integrity of the blockchain and the voting process. Another challenge is ensuring the
privacy and anonymity of voters, while still enabling verification of their identity and
preventing duplicate voting.

Overall, while blockchain-based voting systems have the potential to improve the voting process
in many ways, careful consideration and testing are needed to ensure their effectiveness, security,
and accessibility.
BORDER CONTROL IN BLOCKCHAIN

Border control is a complex process that involves multiple parties and requires a high level of
security, accuracy, and efficiency. The use of blockchain technology can help to address some of
the challenges associated with border control, such as data privacy, identity verification, and cross-
border transactions.

Here are some ways in which blockchain technology can be used for border control:

Secure and Transparent Identity Verification: Blockchain technology can enable secure and
transparent identity verification by storing encrypted identity information on a decentralized
ledger. This can help to prevent identity theft and fraud, as well as facilitate cross-border
transactions.

Immutable Record of Cross-border Transactions: By using blockchain technology, a tamper-

proof and immutable record of cross-border transactions can be created. This can help to increase
transparency and accountability, and reduce the risk of corruption and illegal activities.

Improved Efficiency and Speed: Blockchain technology can enable faster and more efficient
border control processes by reducing the need for intermediaries and manual processes. This can
help to reduce costs, improve accuracy, and speed up border crossings.

Cross-border Payment Processing: The use of blockchain technology can enable cross-border
payment processing in a secure and efficient manner, reducing the need for intermediaries and
improving transaction speed and accuracy.

Overall, the use of blockchain technology in border control can help to improve security,
efficiency, and transparency, while reducing the risk of fraud and corruption. However, the
implementation of such a system requires careful consideration of various factors, such as legal
and regulatory requirements, technological infrastructure, and stakeholder collaboration.

MEDICAL RECORD MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

The management of medical records is a critical aspect of healthcare, as it involves the confidential
and sensitive information of patients. The use of blockchain technology can provide a secure and
transparent system for medical record management, enabling patients and healthcare providers to
access and share information in a secure and efficient manner. Here are some key benefits of using
blockchain technology for medical record management:

Increased Security and Privacy: Blockchain technology provides a secure and tamper-proof
system for storing medical records. The decentralized and immutable nature of the blockchain
ensures that data cannot be altered or deleted without consensus from the network, providing
enhanced security and privacy for patients.

Improved Data Interoperability: Blockchain technology can enable healthcare providers to

access and share medical records in a secure and efficient manner. This can help to improve data
interoperability and reduce the risk of errors and duplications, enabling more accurate diagnoses
and treatment plans.

Patient Control and Ownership: The use of blockchain technology can enable patients to have
greater control and ownership of their medical records. Patients can grant access to their medical
records to healthcare providers, researchers, or other authorized parties, while retaining control
over their data.

Streamlined Data Management: The use of blockchain technology can streamline the
management of medical records by reducing the need for intermediaries and improving data
interoperability. This can help to reduce costs and improve efficiency, while ensuring data security
and privacy.

Overall, the use of blockchain technology for medical record management can help to address the
challenges associated with data security, privacy, and interoperability in healthcare. However, the
implementation of such a system requires careful consideration of various factors, such as legal
and regulatory requirements, technological infrastructure, and stakeholder collaboration.

ALTERNATIVE BLOCKCHAINS

KADENA

Kadena is a blockchain platform that is designed to offer a high-performance and secure

environment for building and deploying decentralized applications (dApps). Kadena was founded
in 2016 by a team of experienced blockchain and finance professionals, with the aim of creating a
scalable and efficient blockchain platform that can be used for a wide range of applications.

Kadena uses a hybrid blockchain architecture that combines the benefits of both public and
private blockchains. The platform consists of two blockchains: the public blockchain called
Chainweb, and the private blockchain called Pact. Chainweb is a sharded blockchain that provides
high scalability and security, while Pact is a smart contract language that allows developers to
write secure and efficient smart contracts.

Kadena aims to build a scalable and developer-friendly public blockchain that provides a
level of security similar to Bitcoin. To support this vision, Kadena features a novel consensus
method, a proof-of-work model dubbed Chainweb, and a new smart contract language, called Pact.
Its mission is to optimize its base-layer for transaction throughput and developer adoption without
the need for any second layer scalability or functionality solutions. Second layer solutions tend to
complicate application development, so providing a full tool kit on a single platform is intended
to be more developer-friendly. The team also claims Kadena has no upper bounds on the number
of transactions it can process per second based on internal tests.

Kadena's native smart contract language, Pact, is designed to improve upon common flaws
observed in Ethereum's Solidity, particularly its susceptibility to unbounded loops and lack of
Formal Verification. Pact smart contracts can also be upgraded at any time without requiring a
hard fork.

Kadena also built a private blockchain that predates its public smart contract platform. The
private blockchain, now called Kadena Kuro (formerly ScalableBFT), uses a Byzantine Fault
Tolerant (BFT) consensus mechanism and is optimized for enterprise-grade use cases. Since 2018,
Kadena Kuro has been used by a healthcare consortium to help reduce the effort required to collect
and maintain insurance provider information. This private blockchain can be used similar to a side-
chain with a public blockchain network (such as Kadena's public platform) to speed up transaction
processes and create new marketplaces for data.

The project was founded by former members of the JPMorgan blockchain development
team for Juno. Kadena has raised $15 million to date, with the majority of those funds secured in
the form of SAFTs (Simple Agreement for Future Tokens). Not included in this total is the
$150,000 grant Kadena received from the Interchain Foundation (the development team behind
the Cosmos network) to build a version of Pact that is compatible with the Tendermint protocol.

Kadena offers several key features that make it a popular choice among developers and enterprises,
including:

 High Scalability: Kadena's Chainweb blockchain is designed to offer high scalability, with
the ability to process thousands of transactions per second.
 Security: Kadena's hybrid blockchain architecture provides high security, with the ability
to prevent double-spending attacks and other security threats.
 Interoperability: Kadena's platform supports interoperability with other blockchain
platforms, enabling seamless integration with existing systems.
 Low Transaction Costs: Kadena's blockchain platform offers low transaction costs,
making it an attractive option for businesses and developers looking to build decentralized
applications.

Overall, Kadena is a powerful blockchain platform that offers high scalability, security, and
interoperability, making it a popular choice for developers and enterprises looking to build and
deploy decentralized applications.

RIPPLE BLOCKCHAIN

Ripple is a real-time gross settlement system, currency exchange and remittance network
created by Ripple Labs Inc. Ripple is built upon a decentralized open-source protocol and supports
tokens representing fiat currency, cryptocurrencies, commodities, and other units of value such as
frequent flier miles or mobile minutes. Ripple aims to provide a secure, fast, and inexpensive way
to transfer value across borders.

Ripple's native cryptocurrency is XRP, which is used as a bridge currency in the Ripple
network to facilitate cross-border transactions. The Ripple network does not rely on proof-of-work
like Bitcoin or Ethereum, but instead uses a consensus algorithm called the Ripple Protocol
Consensus Algorithm (RPCA) to validate transactions.

Ripple is used by financial institutions around the world to settle cross-border payments
quickly and securely. The technology behind Ripple has the potential to revolutionize the
traditional banking system and make international transactions faster, cheaper, and more
transparent.

ROOTSTOCK

RSK is a platform that operates alongside the Bitcoin blockchain. In this article, we will make a
review about this proyect.

How Rootstock Works?

When someone transfers bitcoin (BTC) to Rootstock, the transferred BTC becomes an
RBTC. This means it is a smart contract-enabled bitcoin. Furthermore, the user can transfer the
RBTC back to the Bitcoin blockchain for the regular Rootstock and Bitcoin transaction fees at any
time.

Although Bitcoin is the first known blockchain platform, issues such as network congestion
and long transaction confirmation times became a limitation. However, RSK addresses the
challenge by adding smart contracts on a sidechain.

Smart contracts are simple to understand. You can call them a program written into a
blockchain which executes or carries out the terms of an agreement between two entities. Such an
automated procedure is important because it cuts down the need for trust in an agreement.

Deep Dive into Rootstock

Let’s give a detailed explanation. The capacity of each block on the Bitcoin blockchain is one
megabyte, therefore adding a smart contract to a block limits its ability to store transaction data
and significantly slows down the network. The Bitcoin blockchain cannot accept new features or
additions without major changes.

A sidechain such as Rootstock improves scalability of the primary blockchain by enabling

additional tasks to be completed on a secondary blockchain and subsequently acknowledged by
the primary blockchain.

Bitcoin blockchain takes up to 10 minutes to verify a transaction due to the processing time
and power required to open a new block. But, Rootstock enable the primary chain to concentrate
on mining and validating as it performs additional activities to speed up transaction times.
So, block confirmation in RSK takes around 34 seconds for block confirmation. This is
less than it does on Bitcoin. So, exchanging and sending crypto occurs in considerably less time
and for less money. Transaction times are also shortened and the time between the commencement
of a transfer and its validation is reduced.

Similarly, RSK possesses every feature of the Bitcoin network, including its high level of
security and stability, decentralization, and transparency. Each implementation developed in the
RSK network is permanently stored in the Bitcoin network. To put it another way, every activity
carried out within RSK originates from the Bitcoin network, is carried out there, and then is
recorded in the Bitcoin blockchain.

How Does RSK Differ From Bitcoin?

RSK, in contrast to Bitcoin, is not a cryptocurrency and is not intended to be used as a form
of payment. Instead, it is a background layer that uses merged mining to validate transactions
considerably faster. Blocks are verified on its chain before being sent to Bitcoin’s chain.

Using the Bitcoin blockchain, RSK enables Dapps developers to build their own DeFi
protocols, NFTs, etc. Crypto transactions are paid to miners in exchange for using their equipment
to verify transactions and create new blocks. RSK’s creative strategy attempts to reduce costs,
which have increased significantly since the introduction of Bitcoin and Ethereum.

Rootstock also places huge emphasis on security. For instance, it makes use of financial
incentives to entice programmers, hackers, and security experts to find weaknesses so the system
can increase overall security for stakeholders.

Why is Rootstock Important to Bitcoin?

RSK will no doubt enhance the Bitcoin ecosystem. One of the main problems that
cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin encounter is scalability. However, RSK seeks to address that without
compromising decentralization or taking up storage space. Rootstock can scale up to 300
transactions per second. This makes Bitcoin faster.
RSK’s services are intended to improve transactability. Unlike Bitcoin where transactions
take substantially longer, RSK can enable immediate payments using its innovative protocols like
DECOR and GHOST. This is no doubt a huge advantage.

Finally, RSK uses a merged mining Proof-of-Work (PoW) consensus process. This enables
the same miners that secure the Bitcoin network to also help secure RSK. This is a reason why
Bitcoin miners are actively backing it.

QUORUM

Quorum is an enterprise-grade blockchain platform developed by JPMorgan Chase. It is designed

to provide privacy and security features specifically tailored for the needs of financial institutions
and other industries. Quorum is built on the Ethereum blockchain, but it incorporates
enhancements to address scalability, confidentiality, and network permissions.

Here are some key features and characteristics of Quorum:

Privacy: Quorum offers different privacy options to protect sensitive data. It includes the
ability to create private transactions and private contracts using a technique called "zero-
knowledge proofs." This allows participants to execute transactions while keeping the details
confidential from other participants on the network.

Permissioned network: Quorum is a permissioned blockchain, which means that only

approved participants can join and participate in the network. This enables organizations to have
more control over the network and ensures that only trusted entities can access and validate
transactions.

Smart contracts: Quorum supports smart contract functionality, similar to Ethereum.

Smart contracts are self-executing contracts with the terms of the agreement directly written into
code. They automatically execute actions when predefined conditions are met, providing
automation and efficiency in various business processes.

Quorum Chain: Quorum allows the creation of individual chains within a network, known
as Quorum Chains. These chains are separate instances of the Quorum blockchain and can be
customized based on specific requirements, such as privacy settings and consensus mechanisms.

Consensus mechanisms: Quorum initially used a consensus algorithm called

QuorumChain, which was a modified version of Ethereum's Proof-of-Authority (PoA) consensus.
However, JPMorgan Chase has since transitioned to using the consensus protocol Raft, which is
more efficient and offers improved scalability.

Integration with traditional systems: Quorum is designed to integrate with existing

enterprise systems, making it easier for organizations to adopt blockchain technology without
disrupting their current infrastructure. It provides tools and APIs to connect with external systems,
enabling interoperability and seamless data exchange.

Quorum has gained significant attention and adoption within the financial industry due to
its focus on privacy and permissioned networks. However, it's worth noting that as an AI language
model, my knowledge is based on information available up until September 2021. For the most
up-to-date information on Quorum, it's advisable to refer to official documentation or consult the
JPMorgan Chase website.