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Olsztyn, Poland, is reportedly the first city in the world to leverage the Ethereum blockchain to help deliver emergency services, offering another tangible use case for distributed ledger technology.
Olsztyn has successfully completed a trial of SmartKey, a bridging technology that links blockchain with physical assets, to aid in police, fire and ambulance services.
SmartKey will reportedly allow rescue teams to do their jobs more efficiently by linking a smart contract to Teltonika smart devices used by local rescue teams. This connection allows emergency teams to enter any building in the city without having to track down a keyholder or wait for permission.
Gustaw Marek Brzezin, the Marshal of the Warmińsko-Mazurskie Voivodeship where Olsztyn is located, issued the following statement:
“The need for our rescue services to carry out their duties unhindered is delicate. The use of blockchain and SmartKey technology seems to be the perfect solution, reassuring the owners and inhabitants of the buildings, but also freedom for our emergency services “.
SmartKey believes that blockchain technology can lay the foundation for the development of smart cities. While definitions may vary, a smart city refers to any urban area that leverages emerging technologies and sensors to collect data, which can then be used to manage assets, resources and services more efficiently. As a paradigm, smart cities feed other theories on sustainability and economic development.
The Internet of Things, or IoT, could have important implications for future smart cities. Connected devices are believed to represent one of the biggest growth opportunities of the next decade. The World Economic Forum, for example, has identified the IoT as an important pillar of “urban transformation”, especially after COVID-19.
Several cryptocurrency projects operate in the IoT niche, the largest of which is Iota (MIOTA) with a market capitalization of $ 825 million. At least a dozen others have a market capitalization of $ 1 million or more.
