The Implications of Fusing 5G and Blockchain

The combination of 5G and blockchain technology has the potential to unleash a surge of economic value.

In order to understand this connection between 5G and blockchain, one must think of the relationship as multifold.

5G will directly assist blockchains by increasing node participation and decentralization, as well as allowing for shorter block times, driving forward on-chain scalability - all of which, in turn, further supports the IoT economy.

In blockchain terms, latency is the time between a transaction being broadcast and it being received by nodes.

Blockchain innovations could likely solve the first problem.

Devices would be registered according to their own corresponding blockchain addresses, guaranteeing their identity.

The sheer extent of IoT means that decentralized blockchain architectures are not capable of handling the necessary throughput.

The buildout of 5G and layer two blockchain infrastructure are fortuitously occurring simultaneously, providing the necessary scalability and coverage for an IoT-oriented economy.

One other route for system architects would be to add other structures, such as graphs between the base blockchain layer and IoT devices.

Until developers can produce alternative designs that achieve high throughput without sacrificing security or decentralization, IoT networks will have to use the more limited, yet secure blockchain structure.