In the past year, cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin transformed from geeky passion projects on Reddit into a speculative boom that has leading experts scrambling to get up to speed. Just last week, finance luminaries Warren Buffett and Jamie Dimon contradicted each other, with Dimon saying he regretted calling Bitcoin a fraud and Buffet warning that cryptocurrencies would end badly.

For the most part, everyone I talk to (who is not an engineer) doesn’t really get what blockchain is and how it can actually be used (besides as a currency). To those of you who are unaware that there is any other purpose for blockchain, it is important to note that while the press has focused on the 1300% increase in Bitcoin’s value, most of the actual work being done is in creating applications for blockchain that have little to do with currency — or at least currency is only a component of the applications’ larger purpose.

Ethereum, for example, is the platform on which several new applications are being developed, from universally-accessible (but private) medical records to distributed cloud storage (think Airbnb for extra hard-drive space) to licensing royalty management apps. What these future applications have in common is that humans have been removed as the middlemen who are too costly or inefficient to allow these applications to currently exist. With blockchain technology, the machines transact among themselves, so a patient’s full health history is recorded automatically, you can earn money storing a stranger’s stuff on unused hard drives and you don’t need an agent to protect your photo copyrights.

All of this sounds great, of course, but what does any of it have to do with marketing?

You may have heard this, but the Internet of Things is coming. Quickly. Gartner predicts that by 2020, we’ll have over 20 billion smart devices, many with sensors, cameras and microphones connected to the internet. These are items like smart thermostats, smart TVs, baby monitors and security cameras that alert you when movement is detected, as well as any product you can control with an app.

Right now they’re collecting data, but that data isn’t captured anywhere that can help you understand the person using these devices. But what if all of the behavioral usage data from each of those independent smart objects was captured into a user and household profile? And what if those profiles were connected to a machine-learning AI that could deliver nuanced profiles based on real-world data (rather than 12-person focus groups or surveys of people who may not actually use your product)? You’d know that the 42-year-old guy in 94904 uses the treadmill his wife bought him for Christmas only once a month. You’d also know his favorite beer (always stocked by his smart fridge), that he has a child under two (baby monitor), is a fan of “Stranger Things,” commutes 20 minutes to work each day and regularly reorders hemorrhoid pads on Amazon. Amazing for marketers. Creepy for citizens.

With this insight, you’d create much more targeted campaigns, form promotional partnerships you’d never have considered and increase the overall ROI of every marketing dollar spent.