Mikolai Gütschow (TU Dresden)

Title:

The Future of IoT Payments: A Call for Trustworthy and Scalable Open-Source Solutions

Biography:

Mikolai is a PhD student and research associate at the Chair of Distributed and Networked Systems at TU Dresden. Before joining TU Dresden, he graduated with a BSc from the Saarland University and MSc in Embedded Systems from Uppsala University. His research focuses on digital payments for the low-end IoT. 

Abstract:

Payment habits are undergoing a transformative shift, marked by a decline in cash usage in favor of transactions facilitated by third-party operators such as credit card companies and private payment providers. Simultaneously, central banks are exploring the potential of their own digital currencies.

In this dynamic environment, the proliferation of Internet of Things (IoT) devices is introducing a demand for secure, autonomous payment capabilities.
While blockchain-based payment networks such as Bitcoin and IOTA have received attention in the research community, they pose challenges for deployment on constrained IoT devices because of their limited scalability and resource requirements.
Additionally, concerns about a shift in trust away from traditional institutions and the absence of governmental control raise doubts about their widespread adoption.

In this presentation, we call the open-source community to propose trustworthy and scalable digital payment solutions that can be seamlessly integrated into diverse contexts, ranging from everyday payments to IoT scenarios. We will introduce GNU Taler as one possible solution and present first preliminary insights into its applicability on resource-constrained devices powered by RIOT, an open-source operating system for the IoT.