China’s hotly-anticipated nationwide effort to integrate blockchains – the Blockchain Service Network (BSN) – has split into two entities over a disagreement to integrate public blockchains. BSN will now be split into two separate entities:
BSN-China: a private consortium led by the State Information Center. This chain will be China’s core chain with support from the Government. BSN-China will consist of nodes that fully comply with local Chinese laws and regulations
BSN-International: A public consortium led by Red Date Technologies. This chain will allow international co-operation and integration of crypto protocols such as Ethereum (ETH), EOS (EOS), Nervos (CKB), NEO (NEO), Chainlink (LINK) and Tezos (XTZ)
BSN was originally envisioned as a project that would allow any blockchain, be it public chains (eg. Ethereum (ETH)) or corporate private chains to communicate with each other. Following the original plan, any public blockchain can integrate itself into the BSN, a network that will help cross-chain communication and value transfer.
Recently there has been pushback against the use of Public blockchains in China, as it would mean the State would not be able to control these Chains. As a result, the incorporation of public chains into BSN has been a hotly contested subject as the state would not be able to ensure that all aspects of the chain will comply with local laws. In fact, public blockchains are decentralized meaning that they are immune to centralized control and governance. This has lead to the State declining to allow any public blockchains into BSN-China.
It is expected that BSN-China will receive most of the state’s attention and funding. Private projects developed by major tech giants in China, such as Tencent and Baidu are expected to be integrated into BSN-China. This will be the major spearhead develop for China’s nationwide push for blockchain development.
Will Decentralized Protocols be left out?
International efforts to develop and integrate into BSN-International will be expected to continue ahead as planned. Original creators of BSN, Red Date Technologies, will spearhead the development and continue to push the international effort to create a communication network for the entire blockchain ecosystem.
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China has asked for guidance from the teams behind Cosmos and ChainLink for their Blockchain Service Network (BSN), it was revealed last month. Researchers have called upon both companies to aid their development of the BSN, which was launched alongside their Digital Currency Electronic Payment (DCEP) in April 2020, to help them build out a “service hub” which would form the bedrock of its “internet of blockchains.”
SmartContract and Iris Foundation join BSN Development
According to reports, SmartContract, the group behind the Chainlink oracle network, will aid the BSN team in the sourcing of reliable information. Their Dapp services, potentially on Hyperledger, could allow for a cohesive and more streamline to access information.
Yifan He, BSN expert and CEO of Beijing Red Date Technology, spoke on the ChainLink addition, saying the partnership between the two, will give access to outside data from many Chinese companies, such as financial transaction information from China Union Pay, something difficult to obtain and analyze in the first place. This would then allow for BSN users to access “outside data such as stock prices and financial transactions.”
On the other hand, Iris Foundation Ltd., the company who uses the Cosmos network to integrate businesses using interchain services, will work on interoperability for the network. He described their addition as allowing for “cross-chain services between blockchains adapted in the network.”
Both companies appear to know what the State Information Center and China Mobile/China Union Pay backed BSN needs in their attempts to create a worldwide blockchain infrastructure.
And it seems they have a good chance of pulling it off as the government backing allows greater alliances and interconnectivity between the important players. One of these players and a team that looks integral to the future research is ChainLink.
ChainLink suits BSN
The chance to be part of a huge project was something ChainLink’s co founder and SmartContract CEO Sergey Nazarov, couldn’t miss. Explaining how the BSN might use his company, the co-founder said: “Chainlink provides the blockchain abstraction layer or secure blockchain middleware that enable dapp developers to create universally connected smart contracts.”
Google, through its Google Cloud uses ChainLink for a similar function as he BSN, Nazarov explained. “What BSN really cares about, much like the people we’ve worked with from Google, is this type of contract that allows blockchains to access external off-chain data,” Nazarov stated.
The need is made even greater as blockchain can’t be directly applied to application programming interfaces (APIs) and only universally connected smart contracts can create the connection and allow for off chain data.
This use case is especially needed, Nazarov claimed, for global financial product or insurance, as the contracts must have external data and ensure goods and services are delivered, which needs the universally connected contracts.
The usage of ChainLink and their services are set to continue as Nazarov told CoinDesk, “Chainlink’s technology suits BSN’s vision because the network includes multiple chains that are also supported by (his) team.”
BSN starts to build for future
Since its launch in April, the BSN has been announcing a number of partnerships with experts in the blockchain field. For example, around the initial launch the research team confirmed the plans to adapt Ethereum and EOS public blockchains into the BSN system.
A target area has been cross chain services with Polkadot one of a number of companies earmarked for positions on the interchain service. “We plan to have at least four different interchain service technical frameworks developers can choose from in the hub,” He said.
“The interchain service hub is one of the three critical parts for the national blockchain infrastructure”, He continued adding that enterprise and public blockchains into the network were the other key fields.
Despite not being finalised, the network is already proving popular. ”We have been on-boarding two to three public chains every month on average, while adapting consortium chains at a slower pace since it usually takes longer to integrate them with the network,” He claimed.
However, not all blockchain developers are pleased with the creation of the network, with some developers worried about their data being stolen as well as other privacy concerns. The BSN looked to quell the fears in their recent technical white paper, but there is cause for concern considering the nations stringent Internet laws.
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China’s Blockchain Service Network (BSN) is a national initiative designed to boost the integration and adoption of Blockchain in big businesses. China has positioned herself as a leader in Blockchain development, with 45% of all blockchain projects coming from the nation’s industries and tech giants (such as Tencent’s Blockchain Accelerator). The industry was given a huge boost in October 2018 when President Xi Jinping voiced his admiration for the technology behind cryptocurrencies. The network is set up for commercial usage and looks to provide a platform for enterprises and individuals wishing to make a blockchain application. Blockchain technologies are extremely powerful for enterprise applications as it allows for large scale data tracking with a guarantee on the authenticity of data. We’ve seen enterprise-focused Blockchain projects gain major partnerships in the past, such as Vechain’s partnership with logistics company DNV GL and auditing firms PwC.
Alongside the announcement of its digital currency electronic payment (DCEP) last month, China also launched its blockchain service network (BSN) signaling its continued shift towards a digital economy. Although it was not treated with as much fanfare, the BSN has a similar transformative effect to the DCEP and is no less important for the industry within and outside of China.
What is China’s Blockchain Services Network (BSN)?
The Blockchain Service Network (BSN) is a platform set up for individuals, businesses and local governments on which they can build blockchain applications. Launched on April 25th, the main target of the public network is to create a one-stop-shop for blockchain in China which supports smart city initiatives, other public networks and regions in the imminent digital economy which the People’s Republic is building.
The network will have two primary functions. The first is commercial and this will allow businesses/blockchain startups to use the network to develop applications, offering a public alternative to the private blockchain networks which already exist. Alongside this, the BSN will also provide a foundational consortium chain alliance for use for smart cities and digital economies. According to reports, the network will focus on openness, public utility, scalability, open-source, multi-portal, low cost and autonomy.
The initiative will also be integral for the research into government usages for blockchain and governance. The network will also promote research in other areas and look to foster a development ecology, according to BSN alliance President Liu Yunan.
Liu Yunan BSN President (source:SIC.com)
Partner Networks and Organisations
The creation of the BSN has been done by an array of familiar faces within the tech industry. Leading the research was the Chinese government think tank, the State Information Center (SIC) whose smart city development research group the focal team. Other institutions which helped with its development include telecom company ChinaMobile and banking/payment network, China’s UnionPay. In terms of the cryptocurrency industry, exchange Huobi was a surprise inclusion in its development.
List of some BSN development association members (Source: CoinTelegraph)
Technology Behind the BSN
The network will use a custom-built blockchain and there have been a number of companies involved in the technology’s research and implementation. The leading group in its creation is FISCO, or Financial Blockchain Shenzhen Consortium. This group includes Tencent’s digital currency wallet Webank and Cloud, Huawei, and Shenzhen Securities Communication.
FISCO- BCOS
FISCO created the BCOS open-source network. Based on Ethereum’s blockchain, BCOS uses various features like zero-knowledge proofs and allows individual permissioned chains to run concurrently.
Tencent has played an integral role in its development, with its digital bank, Webank, providing smart contract Digital Asset Modeling Language for FISCO BCOS.
The network has already shown itself to be popular in its initial Beta period which began six months ago. Reports have suggested that 2,000 developers had signed up to the test period, creating blockchain applications for public welfare charity and electronic invoices.
Both the DCEP project and the BSN are all key structures in China’s technological plan, called the “China Standards 2035”. The document, which is set for release later this year, will plot out how the technologies will shape the next decade.
The BSN Beta testing
The initial testing plan was launched in October 2019 and ended recently prior to the April launch. According to local media reports, the beta testing for commercial usage went well. Around 2,000 developers joined up with the test period, creating blockchain applications for public welfare charity and electronic invoices. Currently, the network has 128 public nodes, of which the majority come from China but a small number are overseas stretching across six continents.
Pilot Projects for BSN
Huangzhou was the pilot city for the BSN
The city which the network was tested in was Hangzhou, in Eastern China after the local government signed an agreement with the research group. According to Chinadaily, the BSN was rolled out in conjunction with Hangzhou’s City Brain platform and focussed on e-governance improvement, disinfection for hotels and more individualised technological services. The system will also be used to track local level issues such as road safety, with users encouraged to report any issues they see in the community.
As well as the piloting in Huangzhou, there was also a trial for a credit rating system based on blockchain that would track small and medium-sized businesses who wished to gain finance from banks.
Blockchain in China
Blockchain has long been a technology admired within China, typified by their leader Xi Jinping’s direct promotion of it in October 2019. Even without Xi’s comments, China has still been the leading nation for blockchain adoption with 45% of all projects coming from China according to data from the Mutual Chain Pulse Research Institute.
Mutual Chain Research graph on number of blockchain projects by nation
Top tech companies that have blockchain projects include, Tencent, the company behind WeChat, Alibaba, through its Ant financial team and Baidu, the internet search engine provider.
Provincial governments across the nation have been implementing various blockchain projects. More recently though, the shift has been more national with Blockbeats reports from May 12th claiming that the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security of China is looking for 10 new roles with regards to blockchain, these include Blockchain Engineering Technicians and a Blockchain Application Operator.
WIll the BSN and DCEP be linked?
Although there is nothing concrete at the moment, it would appear that both the DCEP and BSN will be linked. Evidence for this comes from reports of Webank writing smart contract digital asset modeling language. Clearly though, both blockchain and a digital yuan are integral parts of China’s future, something which will be enshrined in writing within the China 2035 Standards document set for release later this year. The document is a fifteen-year plan for China’s development and blockchain/digital currencies will be an integral part.
Chinese tech giant Tencent has launched a Blockchain Industry accelerator and incubator program to advance the use of blockchain technology in China. Called, the “Tencent Industrial Accelerator” (腾讯区块链加速器) the program is open to only 30 blockchain startup applications. Successful projects will receive access to both funds and business partnership opportunities from Tencent. This comes as a direct response to China’s directive to spearhead the development of blockchain technologies – President Xi personally talked about the advantages of blockchain. Tencent’s entry into Blockchain is creating a lot of noise because they are known to incubate many successful breakthrough projects such as WeChat, League of Legends (Tencent is the biggest shareholder in Riot Games), and QQ. To qualify, startups must be financed for at least one round and their applications submitted before the June 6th cut off date.
Table of Contents
China is a hotbed for Blockchain Development
China has positioned herself as a leader in Blockchain development, with 45% of all blockchain projects coming from the nation. The industry was given a huge boost in October 2018 when President Xi Jinping voiced his admiration for the technology behind cryptocurrencies. China launched its blockchain service network (BSN) on April 27th, a network designed to boost the integration and adoption of Blockchain in big businesses. The network is set up for commercial usage and looks to provide a platform for enterprises and individuals wishing to make a blockchain application. Blockchain technologies are extremely powerful for enterprise applications as it allows for large scale data tracking with a guarantee on the authenticity of data. We’ve seen enterprise-focused Blockchain projects gain major partnerships in the past, such as Vechain’s partnership with logistics company DNV GL and auditing firms PwC.
President Xi personally called for Blockchain Development in China in 2019
China’s Blockchain Service network is released alongside China’s National Digital Currency Electronic Payment (DCEP) Project. DCEP is a central bank national currency designed to replace paper RenMinBi (RMB) and improve the financial infrastructure in China. (Cymbalta) The project has received an official list of partners including McDonald’s and Starbucks. It is highly suggested that these projects will have a high degree of synergy, with the potential application of DCEP in Blockchain projects in China.
Tencent is Accelerating Industrial Applications
Projects which provide industrial blockchain solutions, data sharing applications, digital asset transactions, and supply chain financing are also encouraged to apply to the accelerator. Development areas were also highlighted, this time related to smart contract security, consensus algorithms, multi-party governance, and trusted identity and computer solutions. From the application, it would appear that Tencent is looking for projects related to various fields. The sectors which they are putting their focus on governance, education, energy, agriculture, public welfare, manufacturing, and logistics.
Mentoring and Opportunites
It is not just the name recognition provided by the accelerator which would attract startups. The program also includes usage of Tencent’s blockchain as a service platform, four mentoring meetings across the year, numerous networking opportunities, and the chance to fly to a country of interest with regards to blockchain or their project.
Taking all these activities and experience in mind, it is no wonder the program sets you back a long way. The tuition fee is totaled at 100,000 RMB per person (14,100 USD), which is a similar figure to that of a master’s program at a US university.
FISCO BCOS Blockchain
The blockchain will use FISCO BCOS, an open-source protocol co-developed by Tencent, Huawei, and Shenzhen Securities Communication. Tencent has played an integral role in its development, with its digital bank, Webank, providing smart contract Digital Asset Modeling Language for FISCO BCOS.
The network has already shown itself to be popular in its initial Beta period which began six months ago. Reports have suggested that 2,000 developers had signed up to the test period, creating blockchain applications for public welfare charity and electronic invoices.
Both the DCEP project and the BSN are all key structures in China’s technological plan, called the “China Standards 2035”. The document, which is set for release later this year, will plot out how the technologies will shape the next decade.
