What's in Your Wallet: Internet of Things?

Windmill Enterprise continues to pique interest in the world of enterprise blockchain, and before even formally launching their Cognida Network and platform, along with a non-profit open source foundation.

The integration of Vault Wallet’s secure digital signature technology into the Cognida platform will allow enterprise customers to manage access of connected devices and machines using digital signatures, so this has something to do with IoT, right?

The definition of “wallet” is changing, forcing the world to think differently about what that term really means, at least in the digital sense. We’ve come to understand digital wallets as consumer applications enabling secure payments, associated with cryptocurrencies and the exchange of Bitcoins and other non-traditional currencies.

What’s in an “enterprise” wallet and how do digital wallets secured by enterprises intersect with the ever-expanding world of IoT?

The most compelling use case may be the “B2B2C” world, where enterprises adopt blockchain as part of their embedded strategy. Let’s say Amazon’s Dash and Echo wish to better secure payments when a customer orders something using the touch of the button, or a voice command. A consumer wallet can secure the transaction supporting this disruptive e-commerce model, as blockchain technology manages micro-transactions between devices and cloud-based applications.

The intersection of IoT and payments alone inspires multitude business models, but not without challenges.

Perhaps this is one of the use cases Windmill Enterprise (developer of the Cognida Network and platform) had in mind when they partnered with Vault Wallet, developer of a mobile wallet they claim will be a “fast, secure and easy-to-use mobile wallet to manage crypto-assets.”

The two companies are betting on the concept that the integration of secure digital signature technology into the open source Cognida platform will allow enterprise customers to manage access of connected devices and machines using digital signatures.

For Cognida enterprise end-users, this means access requests to web portals, enterprise systems and other network connected digital assets are directed to hardware-encrypted wallets on mobile devices, where they can be signed by the user’s private key to authenticate the user’s identity.

This, in combination with the Cognida platform, which utilizes blockchain as a decentralized back-end security and authorization database, offers enterprises new, innovative tools to secure distributed and remote assets.

“The enterprise blockchain technology ecosystem is critical to accelerate adoption of this new security paradigm,” said Michael Hathaway, co-founder & CEO of Windmill Enterprise. “The Cognida Network and platform are designed to make integrations of software like Vault Wallet’s straightforward, scalable and attractive to enterprises who wish to implement better ways to secure identities and transactions. We look forward to continuing to innovate with Vault Wallet and to welcoming additional partners to the Cognida Foundation, to contribute to our growing suite of open source security solutions for enterprises.”

“Partnering with Windmill Enterprise and adopting Cognida’s technology is a natural fit,” said Daniel Arulraj, founder of Vault Wallet. “Vault’s hardware encrypted mobile wallet provides enterprises with the highest level of mobile security in a way that is easy for them to integrate into existing services and security programs. As the blockchain market matures, technology and partnerships like the one we’re announcing today with Windmill will bring valuable solutions to businesses requiring robust security, particularly as their mobile footprints grow.”

While some skeptics may believe that secure digital wallet payments integrated with IoT solutions is years off, the fact is 4 payment networks have already launched tokenization platforms with the initial objective of securing payment credential distribution provisioning in digital wallets. This includes Visa and MasterCard who have stated a vision to use blockchain as payment distribution hubs in IoT environments.

We’re still early in both blockchain and IoT.

Initial IoT deployments include solutions for smart cars, appliances and wearables, with roadmaps including platforms for commerce. IoT expands the payment networks by converting any connected device into a “buying machine.”

Run out of laundry detergent? Just press the Dash button affixed to your washing machine.

This is good news for the entire value chain, and particularly for Visa and MasterCard, which benefit most from innovation that drives more and more transaction volume through their systems.

The e-commerce IoT use case is just one of many the two companies may exploit.

For Cognida enterprise end-users, this means access requests to web portals, enterprise systems and other network connected digital assets are directed to hardware-encrypted wallets on mobile devices, where they can be signed by the user’s private key to authenticate the user’s identity. This, in combination with the Cognida platform, which utilizes blockchain as a decentralized back-end security and authorization database, offers enterprises new, innovative tools to secure distributed and remote assets.

The Cognida Network and its open source platform enabling enterprises to enforce their security and access permissions policies on connected devices, systems and shared information using blockchain agnostic technology. Cognida’s technology was developed by Windmill Enterprise and is being contributed to the Cognida Foundation, a US-based, non-profit organization that will be governed by its members.

“The enterprise blockchain technology ecosystem is critical to accelerate adoption of this new security paradigm,” said Michael Hathaway, co-founder & CEO of Windmill Enterprise. “The Cognida Network and platform are designed to make integrations of software like Vault Wallet’s straightforward, scalable and attractive to enterprises who wish to implement better ways to secure identities and transactions. We look forward to continuing to innovate with Vault Wallet and to welcoming additional partners to the Cognida Foundation, to contribute to our growing suite of open source security solutions for enterprises.”

This announcement comes on the heels of Cognida’s recent partnership with leading decentralized mobile security solutions provider Rivetz. With Rivetz, Cognida provides enterprise customers with additional options for securing private keys utilizing Rivetz’s access to the Trusted Execution Environment (“TEE”) private “vault” inside the hardware in millions of mobile devices.