The Internet of Things — the network of internet-connected devices that might include your alarm clock, thermostat, and refrigerator– is growing, and that carries important implications for fintech and beyond. On Twitter, the hashtag #IoT has reached over 3.3 million users in the past several hours, with around 387 retweets and counting, which could be due to anything from Google’s newest operating system to this wearable tattoo that controls your smartphone.

From the new iris scanner in Samsung’s newest smartphone; to Amazon’s cloud data analysis platform, Kinesis Analytics; to the future of the blockchain; fintech’s success is irrevocably connected to the IoT. But what does that mean for the industry?

Last year, it was estimated that by 2020 there will be a total of 21 billion devices connected to the IoT, and a study last month by Forrester Research estimates that by 2021, nearly one in three Americans alone will be using a wearable device, with “over one-third of the 46 million wearables sold” by 2021 being smartwatches, according to the report.

“Higher consumer adoption of mobile payments, voice, notifications and wellness applications will spur growth,” the report reads, listing off the main draws of the technology, which sounds awfully familiar as consumer needs go.

Wearable or otherwise, these devices will evidently be used to accomplish the same kinds of tasks we want to accomplish in 2016; although let’s hope at a faster, more efficient pace.  That means better online and mobile banking, better data collection and contextualization, better payment systems, and better online financial security, all areas targeted by the best of today’s fintech startups, not to mention the heavy hitters of services like blockchain or smartphone providers:

Samsung is already establishing partnerships with financial institutions like Bank of America and U.S. Bank in order to integrate their new iris scanner into mobile banking apps, while companies like Ethereum are pushing the boundaries of the blockchain, completing their first proof of concept with Raidon, something designed to work with IoT devices for the best possible user service.

When the IoT and fintech are combined right, the possibilities of growth are seemingly endless.

To learn more about the Internet of Things, join us at Bank Innovation Israel this November 1-3 in Tel Aviv.