signature can do so using the corresponding public key.

But suppose a company wants to accept Bitcoins for its trades. Now, for security reasons, the company will not want only a single employee to have access to the company’s Bitcoin wallet’s password. Any transaction should need approval from more than one employee. A multi-signature address is created for that purpose.

A multi-signature address is an address associated with more than one ECDSA private key. So, in an m-of-n address, when a Bitcoin address is generated, it is associated with n private keys. And, at least m private keys will be required to make a transaction possible.

This concept can be used to make digital signatures. One can create a multi-signature m-of-n address using n private keys and use that to record the digital signature of documents in a blockchain. Anyone can verify the digital signature using public keys, but to make the digital signature, one would need at least m private keys, out of n private keys associated with the multi-signature address.

How is Blockchain used in IoT?

The concept of blockchain can also be used in IoT. In IoT, devices communicate with each other, and blockchain can verify each communication without human intervention.

When a product is first created, the manufacturer can register it to the universal blockchain. Later, the blockchain can keep an immutable record of the communication between smart devices. As a result, this can enable the autonomous functioning of smart devices without the intervention of any centralized authority.

For example, using blockchain, smart devices in a manufacturing plant can communicate with each other and place orders for repairing some of its parts without human intervention or any other centralized intervention.

Another example is smart home appliances like laundry machines, dishwashers, vacuum machines, etc., which can communicate with each other using blockchain and diagnose, schedule, or pay for their maintenance without any human intervention.

So, blockchain provides us with some fundamental features that can be applied in many core businesses, including cryptocurrencies. This article gave some necessary information on blockchain and some of its usage.