Experts at IEEE forum in Japan to discuss how IoT, 5G and blockchain can work together

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Bitcoin is the ideal ledger for recording data from hundreds of billions of Internet of Things (IoT) devices. To look at what these devices are—and how they might be used— leading networking and blockchain technologies experts will speak at the IEEE 8th World Forum on Internet of Things in Yokohama, Japan, in October-November 2022.

The list includes Dr. Craig S. Wright, IPv6 Forum Founder and President Professor Latif Ladid, nChain CEO Hakan Yuksel, and Japan’s “Father of the Internet” Dr. Jun Murai, moderated by Professor Dr. Hiroshi Esaki, at the University of Tokyo. They will give presentations and speak on a panel dedicated to IPv6-based 5G, IoT, cloud computing, and blockchain networks. How these technologies interact and integrate with each other will define decision-making and economic activity in the world’s data-driven future.

Specifically, the sessions will discuss what those interactions should look like. They will identify gaps, make recommendations for existing and required IPv6 standards, look at use cases and scenarios, and examine possible challenges where IPv6 meets blockchain, 5G wireless networks, cybersecurity, automated networking, and industrial networks.

Why IPv6 is necessary for future technologies

The newest version of the Internet’s communications protocol suite, IPv6, has been around for over 20 years. However, it’s only in recent years that adoption has started to take off. It first rose above 5% in 2014, but reached 30% in 2020 and has already crossed 50% to date on a worldwide average.

Countries with the highest levels of IPv6 adoption in 2022 (at least among Google service users) include India, France, Germany, USA, Saudi Arabia, Greece, and Japan.

This is partly due to the severely restricted number of unique IP addresses available on the most widely-used protocol, IPv4 (the last addresses were allocated about a decade ago, forcing many devices to share them) and the proliferation of smaller IoT devices that gather and share data. IPv6 has a near-infinite supply of unique IP addresses, allowing hundreds of billions of users and devices to have a unique address for the first time.

This has huge implications for Bitcoin and its feasibility as part of the “internet of value“—where data is a commodity, and payments of any size and frequency can happen at a tiny fraction of a U.S. cent per transaction. IPv6 allows for direct IP-to-IP BSV payments, and its standards will allow built-in encryption and cryptographic key generators. This increases privacy and security for human users and devices communicating with each other, automatically interacting and paying each other for usage. This way, the BSV blockchain could become the world’s trusted ledger and (timestamped) universal source of truth.

Dr. Wright has spent much of 2022 spreading the Bitcoin word to Internet standards bodies, particularly those relating to IPv6. Additionally, academics in the space, such as Professor Ladid and others, have taken an interest in what advantages Bitcoin technology can offer once the IPv6 protocol becomes widespread.

The entire IEEE program runs for 17 days at PACIFICO Yokohama. Within that program, several specialized sub-programs will include technical paper presentations, workshops, a Plenary Program, Industry Forum, and discussions for entrepreneurs, young professionals, and women in engineering.

The Yokohama event will be a hybrid in-person and virtual one, meaning anyone can join in to hear the discussions. It runs from October 16 to November 11, 2022.

For more information, check their website here.