Beijing has been quietly working for a few years on a platform that has to facilitate blockchain implementation within the country. According to information from CNBCthis platform nevertheless has global ambitions.
A blockchain platform common to all Chinese companies?
It is called Blockchain-Based Service Network (BSN). Proponents of the technology say it could help bring transparency and speed to typically slow and expensive processes, such as cross-border money transfers. Blockchain can also allow the execution of tasks in a very fast and automated way, if certain conditions are met. Beijing considers this technology particularly essential in areas such as finance, banking and world trade. The BSN platform is aimed at companies that operate a cloud computing infrastructure.
This could be a major cloud player (such as Amazon or Microsoft), or a company that manages its own private cloud or intranet. Yifan He, CEO of Red Date Technology, a company that contributed to the development of BSN, points this out “we are convinced that blockchain technology is so powerful that it will change the entire internet and almost the entire architecture of computer systems”. Paul Triolo, head of technology at consulting firm Albright Stonebridge, explains “Blockchain is very important for China. Government officials want Chinese companies to use it to solve real problems”.
A one-stop shop for deploying applications in the cloud
Finally this blockchain platform presents itself as one “one stop shop” to deploy applications in the cloud, a process that could be costly and time-consuming without such technology. Beijing also wants to solve a big problem, that of interoperability (i.e. getting different blockchains to work with each other). For example, if two banks have applications built on different technologies, they may not be able to work together.
The BSN infrastructure actually makes it possible to build a bridge between the different blockchains. While blockchains in the cryptocurrency world are largely decentralized, those of BSN will probably be completely centralized, to maintain the support of the Chinese authorities. Beijing wants to maintain absolute power over this platform, which will certainly play a very important role for the Chinese economy in the coming years.
Still, researcher and blockchain specialist Garrick Hilleman says that one “fundamental incompatibility between China’s ambition to support a national blockchain development ecosystem and the decentralized nature of blockchain technology”. He believes that if China wants to become a world leader in blockchain technology, it will have to learn to live with the “disruptive power and decentralization of control” inherent in the blockchain.