Blockchains for IoT Payments: A Survey

Blockchains and other Distributed Ledger Technologies (DLTs) are a much-proposed solution for an Internet of Things (IoT) payment platform. Because of their decentralized networks, they are one of the few technologies which allow for true Machine-to-Machine financial transactions, considered essential for the IoT economy. In this paper, we examine the issues surrounding IoT payment systems, including their requirements and proposed specifications. We will also discuss limitations of blockchains to meet these specific requirements, and whether other DLTs or possible optimization solutions for blockchains can overcome these limitations. We present example IoT payment implementations using DLTs to illustrate the opportunities surrounding this technology. This paper aims to capture the breadth and depth of this topic to understand why IoT payment systems are essential to the IoT economy and how blockchains might provide the answer for implementing them in an effective manner.