Unlike financial services, infrastructure — our roads, water pipelines, electrical grids and so on — deals with physical commodities. The mere "digitization" of assets — placing sensors in pipelines or RFID tags on equipment, for example — underestimates the role that digital can play in transforming physical systems and processes. The Industrial Internet of Things (IoT) can optimize physical systems through sensors, data and connectivity, but IoT applications are still built on top of existing devices and processes. These applications of blockchain don’t just make existing systems more efficient, they change how, from whom and through whom services are provided. Like it has done in the financial industry, blockchain decentralizes distribution and eliminates middlemen and middleware.

Source: Forbes January 22, 2018 13:30 UTC