The papers in this special section explores the state-of-the-art advances in adopting blockchain technologies for the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT). There is a growing trend of adopting blockchain technologies to the IIoT due to the traceability, nonrepudiation, and immutability of blockchain systems. The proliferation of IIoT to industrial systems is fostering the fourth industrial revolution (aka Industry 4.0) while IIoT also confronts several challenges exhibiting in the following two perspectives: 1) security and privacy protection of IIoT data; 2) interoperability absence across IIoT systems. Blockchain and blockchain-enabled smart contracts can essentially offer solutions to address the emerging challenges in IIoT.

中文翻译：

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客座社论：工业物联网的区块链解决方案

本专题部分的论文探讨了在工业物联网 (IIoT) 中采用区块链技术的最新进展。由于区块链系统的可追溯性、不可否认性和不变性，在 IIoT 中采用区块链技术的趋势越来越大。工业物联网向工业系统的扩散正在推动第四次工业革命（又名工业 4.0），而工业物联网也面临以下两个方面的挑战：1）工业物联网数据的安全和隐私保护；2) 缺乏跨 IIoT 系统的互操作性。区块链和支持区块链的智能合约本质上可以提供解决方案来应对 IIoT 中的新挑战。