Tencent Cloud Aomeng: Blockchain has very strong limitations, and the authenticity of data can be guaranteed through “cloud chain integration”
Ao Meng, Chief Architect of Tencent Cloud Blockchain, said at the 6th Global Blockchain Summit hosted by Wanxiang Blockchain Lab that BaaS does not put all nodes on the public cloud, making the public cloud a New center. Large companies deploy BaaS platforms internally, deploying many nodes to connect to other people’s nodes, some on their own private cloud platform, and some on other platforms hosted by them. As a result, the blockchain has become a hybrid architecture combined with cloud chains. The blockchain BaaS platform has become a cloud service platform hosted by nodes.
In Ao Meng’s view, the limitations of the blockchain are very strong, and the data accepted by the smart contract can only be read from the chain and then written back. The other is from the transaction with parameters, so the blockchain can only read its own internal data and write back a little bit of data from the external transaction. This little thing has caused the function of the blockchain to be very limited. It is only suitable for highly closed and highly virtualized businesses. There will be big problems when connecting with actual businesses. For example, actual business such as traceability.
In order to ensure the authenticity of the data, Tencent Cloud has proposed a solution that combines auxiliary data through the cloud chain, relying on other tools on the cloud. For example, the cloud can provide big data, IoT, the Internet of Things, databases, and artificial intelligence. Together, you can use the Internet of Things to connect devices, use big data to analyze data characteristics, and use artificial intelligence to eliminate abnormal data.
The following is the full text of the speech:
Thank you very much for the opportunity to come here and tell you about Tencent’s work in this area.
Tencent has a slogan for blockchain-“Cloud-Chain Integration”, which provides blockchain services on Tencent Cloud and is not limited to Tencent Cloud.
When it comes to cloud and blockchain, everyone thinks of BaaS.
From the perspective of the customer platform, BaaS does not host all nodes on the cloud, and the cloud controls the blockchain. The blue “enterprise” in the middle is an enterprise that uses blockchain for many businesses, such as a bank, and may work with many companies to do business, such as an automobile supply chain with an automobile industry enterprise, and an agricultural enterprise Do agricultural supply chain finance together. From his perspective, he faced the discovery that he had many nodes to manage in his private cloud environment, and it didn’t matter how much resources each node used. There will be a problem. There are many troublesome things to manage. At this time, this structure is consistent with the BaaS platform that public cloud vendors have made. There are multiple nodes that need to be managed on the cloud platform. This is BaaS.
In 2020, when everyone mentions BaaS, don’t misunderstand it as putting all nodes on the public cloud and making the public cloud the new center, no. Large companies deploy BaaS platforms internally, deploying many nodes to connect to other people’s nodes, some on their own private cloud platform, and some on other platforms hosted by them. As a result, the blockchain has become a hybrid architecture combined with cloud chains. The blockchain BaaS platform has become a cloud service platform hosted by nodes.
Companies buying blockchain systems and BaaS platforms are definitely not for the BaaS platform to do business. When doing business, they are not limited to blockchain technology, but there are many other technologies. For example, the high availability of a single node of the blockchain. The blockchain is a distributed system, but how do you connect and access the blockchain nodes when your own node is hung up? Therefore, your own nodes must have high availability, such as multi-node management and control, computing resource sharing and many other specific functions.
The limitations of the blockchain are very strong. I have a technical background and I have written smart contracts. The data accepted by the smart contract can only be read from the chain and then written back. The other is from the transaction with parameters, so the blockchain can only read its own internal data and write back a little bit of data from the external transaction. This little thing has caused the function of the blockchain to be very limited. It is only suitable for highly closed and highly virtualized businesses. There will be big problems when connecting with actual businesses. For example, actual business such as traceability.
This brings about a problem. Once the data comes on the chain, the certainty of the data can be guaranteed, but how to ensure the authenticity of the data? There are many solutions for this.
The solution we propose is to combine auxiliary data with cloud chains to make it more authentic, relying on other tools on the cloud. For example, the cloud can provide big data, IoT, the Internet of Things, databases, and artificial intelligence. Together, you can use the Internet of Things to connect devices, use big data to analyze data characteristics, and use artificial intelligence to eliminate abnormal data.
With these functions, real data can be effectively uploaded to the chain, and data that may be manually tampered with or even maliciously uploaded can be eliminated.
What are the contents of the Internet of Things provided by Tencent? We provide many Internet of Things tools, including Internet of Things communication, Internet of Things identity authentication, Internet of Things basic network, etc., with many functions in it. How can it be combined with blockchain applications? Look at a practical example.
This is the blockchain warehouse receipt system we made in Foshan. This system is for supply chain finance. There is an important application in supply chain finance-trade finance. Buyers pick up some things and put them in the warehouse, and then sell them bit by bit. Under normal circumstances, there are 1 million purchases of 1 million goods, and when they are sold out, the next purchase will be made. The liquidity is very poor. If it can be brought in by financial means, mortgage the goods in the warehouse to the bank. But how can the authenticity be guaranteed when mortgaged to the bank? We rely on things like blockchain + Internet of Things + artificial intelligence. This animation demonstrates how the entire system works.
First, the stainless steel coils are shipped to the warehouse. There are a large number of Internet of Things devices in the warehouse, including temperature and humidity sensors, weight sensors, etc. under each steel, and many cameras.
When you come in, you will use computer vision to identify the famous brand, put it in storage, and monitor the temperature and humidity to prevent quality problems. After the information is on the chain and bound to the goods, it can provide the bank with a Token close to the standardized warehouse receipt. When the user mortgages a roll of steel to the bank, the bank directly drills into our system and uses the IoT cloud to see the status of all goods. Knowing the specific conditions of the goods, you can adjust the video cloud, live cloud, and on-demand cloud to watch specific videos, and then accept the warehouse receipt. Insurance companies will also accept warehouse receipts for warehousing insurance and other services.
After the mortgage was given to the bank, the owner of the goods got the money to quickly purchase the second shipment, and the effect was circulated. The blockchain plays a role. After offline assets are mapped online, this matter can be handed over to the blockchain, and the virtualization and abstraction work has been completed. However, the blockchain could not do this piece of work before, relying on the Internet of Things and artificial intelligence.
With this, the assets in the physical world can be mapped to the digital world one by one, and further transactions can be carried out. This is the case we did.
We mainly provide financing services based on warehouse receipts, and the companies that we access include insurance companies, banks, small loans, factoring, etc. Subject to the risk control requirements of different financial institutions, some may require the introduction of factoring, and some may not be necessary. For example, small loan companies do not have strict risk control to directly accept tokens. Like banks, factoring must be introduced in the middle. It provides a complete solution based on blockchain warehouse receipt financing.
When it comes to blockchain warehouse receipts, many people do not have a particularly intuitive feeling. I have abstracted the specific process for everyone. Blocks are generated accumulatively over time. At the beginning, the borrower company (logistics shipper) will write the information of the corresponding goods into one of the blocks, forming an unconfirmed warehouse receipt, and the token has not yet taken effect. At this time, the logistics administrator uses his own system to check whether the goods are the owner of the goods, whether there are other problems with the goods, etc. The warehouse receipt has been signed by the logistics company, and it has become confirmed by the logistics company.
Generally speaking, insurance companies have to access and carry out warehousing insurance for the goods. At this time, the insurance administrator of the insurance company will also read the data that the IoT administrator has confirmed on the blockchain, and he will further confirm whether the goods are The insurance has been carried out, and then add the signature. At this time, the blockchain warehouse receipt is generated, which is the Token requested by the shipper to apply for generation. In addition to the shipper’s signature, two signatures are added to a certain blockchain after a certain period of time, including logistics signatures and insurance signatures. After this process, the warehouse receipt enters a tradable state.
Financing still needs to convert warehouse receipts into financing warehouse receipts. If there is no warehouse receipt, the goods will not be released, so the logistics company must confirm one step. It is also possible to prevent the phenomenon that one thing is too low, and other financial companies in the middle may also go in and confirm that I have not received this collateral. The most likely thing to happen in warehouse receipt financing is that one thing is more than one thing. The process can be automated for matching checks. After these are combined, the person can directly transfer the warehouse receipt to the financial institution. After receiving the warehouse receipt, the loan administrator confirms the loan. After the loan is released, the borrower confirms the final transfer. Completed the entire warehouse receipt transfer process.
There are a lot of things mixed in. In addition to the Internet of Things data we believe, there are some credits behind it, such as requiring Internet of Things companies, insurance companies, and financial institutions to sign on it. Relying solely on the data provided by IoT devices is not necessarily credible. The combination of physical credit, device credit, human credit, and institutional trust can truly complete a complex business.
In the first nine months of 2019, warehouse inventory has increased by 15%, because it is easier to obtain financing for inventory in your warehouse. Logistics companies have implemented a system. Although the system is a bit expensive, it will make more money on the homepage. Talking about the Internet of Things + Blockchain, I also want to raise the issue of compliance.
Distributed ledger + Internet of Things can realize automatic settlement, but the legal basis for automatic settlement data is lacking. Calibration of lack of metering equipment, tamper-proof of lack of metering equipment.
A few years ago, I bought a second-hand house in Beijing for my children to go to school. It was a house for more than ten years. When I bought the house, I had an electric card. I had to go to the bank or the telecommunications bureau to write it on. One year after buying the house, the telecommunications bureau can change the smart meter, and you can pay by WeChat. The next day the telecommunications bureau called me and said that I owed more than 3,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity. I went to him and showed me that the watch was a mechanical watch with a smart card on it. The two numbers were different. The mechanical watch has transferred more than 6000 words, but the electronic read only more than 3000 words.
The physical inconsistency between the sensor billing terminal and the actual metering occurs. I said that from a legal point of view, your watch is certified by the state. Since I have already charged my money, why can I say that now? He said that the “Measurement Law” measured that mechanical watches were accurate, but the smart meter measurement method did not control.
We are facing the same problem of blockchain + Internet of Things. The state-regulated metering only measures the number of revolutions, and then the state does not control the process of reading the Internet of Things and then transmitting.
How to do? This needs to be called in legislation, otherwise we will always have such problems when we do such cases. After the settlement has been settled for a period of time, the person who will automatically settle the settlement tells you that it is inconsistent and something is wrong. The “Measurement Law” should take a step forward to solve the problem of measurement. It is necessary to add a signature to the output number. Who will issue the signed certificate? I am just proposing ideas, and I must rely on experts in the end.
