Smart Contracts for Machine-to-Machine Communication: Possibilities and Limitations

TL;DR

This paper explores the potential and limitations of using blockchain-based smart contracts for machine-to-machine communication, demonstrating their benefits and challenges through an IoT gasoline purchase application.

Contribution

It presents the design, implementation, and evaluation of AGasP, a novel smart contract-based system for automated gasoline transactions in IoT environments.

Findings

Smart contracts enhance transparency, trust, and longevity in IoT communication.

Performance and privacy trade-offs are significant challenges for real-world deployment.

Correctness and security of smart contracts are critical for reliable M2M applications.

Abstract

Blockchain technologies, such as smart contracts, present a unique interface for machine-to-machine communication that provides a secure, append-only record that can be shared without trust and without a central administrator. We study the possibilities and limitations of using smart contracts for machine-to-machine communication by designing, implementing, and evaluating AGasP, an application for automated gasoline purchases. We find that using smart contracts allows us to directly address the challenges of transparency, longevity, and trust in IoT applications. However, real-world applications using smart contracts must address their important trade-offs, such as performance, privacy, and the challenge of ensuring they are written correctly.