peaq: Transforming the Internet of Things into the Economy of Things using blockchain technology

peaq (Peaq Technology GmbH) is a Berlin-based blockchain company that maximizes the potential of vehicles, machines, robots, and devices for their owners and manufacturers. Their identity, access, and payment platform allows companies to build decentralized solutions to fit any need or opportunity in the Economy of Things, and scale them via the Web3-ready peaq network. peaq enterprise is the enterprise arm driving adoption of the peaq network and token.

peaq is creating a new machine economy, a decentralized Economy of Things, by safely empowering machines to the benefit of society. It enables companies to build decentralized solutions that empower machines to solve problems, save resources, and support people. peaq focuses on the development of an economy in which trust is built into its foundations and thereby building a world in which people don't fear machines because they don't have to.

Core Values that Make a Global Impact

When the founders began peaq, led by CEO Till Wendler, they understood two core things; blockchain will change the world more profoundly than the internet did – and it won't happen overnight. At peaq they are not afraid to think differently. They've taken a different approach to all aspects of blockchain for enterprises. The core values of the founders are driven by the opportunity to make a global impact. To this end, they have designed a bold go-to-market strategy by opting to use the technology to create value before using the technology to exchange value.

Leveraging Blockchain Solutions

peaq is one of a handful of blockchain companies founded and based out of Germany and one of the only ones with a focus on blockchain for enterprise. They have been working with large German automotive for three years and now through GAIA-X, the company is in a strong position to use the technology to advance the German automotive industry to the next paradigm of the internet, the Web3. The creation of decentralized solutions like Decentralized Charging enables all stakeholders to co-govern, maintain, and improve the charging eco-system while also enjoying a better, faster, cheaper, and more secure experience overall.

Driving Innovation with Artificial Intelligence 

The peaq network will use artificial intelligence (AI) to further reduce reliance on humans in the process of achieving consensus between all nodes in the network. Details of how the company is using the disruptive tech will be released once the public network is launched as said by the management of the company.

A More Scalable Alternative to Blockchain

According to Till Wendler, the innovations brought to the market by the company so far speak for themselves. It developed a new type of blockchain called the DAGchain. DAG is a type of distributed ledger technology that is a faster and more scalable alternative to blockchain. DAG can simultaneously achieve enterprise-grade scalability, consistency, and decentralization that makes it so unique than the others. The company combined the advantages of DAG with the stability of trusted blockchain technology.

However, this is not the only innovation that the company has been developing, its blockchain technology also enables the world's first decentralized charging solution and this will lead to more range security fostering a smooth user experience when charging by also contributing to transparency and interoperability in authorization and billing processes.

Milestones and Assets to the Company

peaq has reached some substantial milestones since its very foundation. It is the first-ever blockchain company to become an official member of the VDA (German Automotive Industry Association). peaq is also an official member of the GAIA-X moveID project. The European association for data and cloud. Peaq is part of the GAIA-X 4future mobility moveIDprojectwhich aims to bring cloud applications to autonomous and connected vehicles to achieve European data sovereignty and to develop common standards for a secure, connected, and open data infrastructure to the EU's highest IT security and data protection requirements.

Peaq's clients also include leading companies that are listed in the Fortune 100 ranking, such as Audi and NTTand the company also comprises a lot of expertise within its advisory board, with current and former C-level executives from Cisco, P&G, VW, Dyson, and more.

Overcoming the Challenges to Build a Better Future

The company was started in the year 2017 and when asked about the biggest challenge ever, Till Wendler mentioned the time when the crypto market collapsed., "There was a lot of skepticism around the technology then. It still exists today but to a much, much lesser degree. After the collapse of the crypto market in 2018 the company had to push on and continue to raise funds and develop the technology in a very difficult environment" he recollected.

"Another big challenge was educating the people, especially the clients about the potential of technology to the point that they could actually believe in it and proactively seek the technological benefits by with an urge to move fast together towards building better solutions, ecosystems, industries, and altogether better future", said Till.

A Future that Shines Bright

Till believes that decentralization of the internet is becoming increasingly relevant today and even more so tomorrow. "By replacing centralized Web2 infrastructure with decentralized Web3 infrastructure, the internet of things becomes the economy of things which is peer-to-peer, efficient, scalable, future proof" he adds.

By giving vehicles, machines, robots, and devices their own self-sovereign identities and peer-to-peer access authorization, payments would become possible without the need for intermediaries which include privacy risks and hence Till asserts that machines siloed by centralized platforms become fully accessible to anyone and anything, enabling them to provide and render any goods and services directly, in a machine-centric economy of things.

Putting it in a nutshell, "Creating clarity and transparency is what peaq wants to do in the future by solving problems. Pone such problem we're currently solving is the fragmented charging infrastructure in electromobility for the millions of end customers using the decentralized charging solution on top of the peaq network" Till says.

The company sees the future of decentralized blockchain to be very bright yet effective.