A Glimpse of the Leopard China’s Blockchain Ecosystem: How CBDC Helps Blockchain Adoption in 2020
2020 is a year full of challenges for the world, but for a country with a large population base and rapid development, it will be both opportunities and challenges.
On October 24, 2019, China officially upgraded its blockchain technology to a national strategic level. After a year, from multiple dimensions, the development of China’s blockchain industry has been at the forefront of the world.
1. The number of disclosed application projects of China’s blockchain ranks first
According to the research report of Gyro Finance, from October 24, 2019 to September 1, 2020, the number of global blockchain technology application projects has shown a downward trend. Approximately 345 new blockchain technology application projects worldwide have been disclosed, a decrease of 163 projects compared to the same period last year. Among them, China ranked first in the world with 252 projects, accounting for about 73% of global projects, an increase of 12% year-on-year, and the number of projects launched far surpassed the second-ranked United States with 27. At the same time, it can be seen that the policy effect of China’s blockchain projects is obvious, and the peak increase in the number of projects is after the release of the relevant policies. Among 252 projects, 56 projects were newly added in November 19 after the policy was issued, and 48 projects were disclosed in December 19, after which the number of projects gradually flattened out.
From the perspective of regional distribution of technology applications, Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Zhejiang, and Guangdong have become the five major provinces that actively promote blockchain applications.
According to incomplete statistics from the Top Research Institute, technology applications are mainly concentrated in the fields of government affairs, public services and finance. In addition to China’s local government, some listed companies, such as Tencent, JD, Xiaomi, Huawei, Baidu and other companies are also actively promoting the layout and application of blockchain. Regarding the application of the blockchain this year and the plan for next year, Jiang Yongqiang, general manager of Xiaomi Digital Technology said:
“This year we have already landed in Tianjin, Chongqing, Guangzhou, Ningbo and other government industry and finance platforms, and made a variety of innovative industry-side financing products based on the blockchain. Next year, we will provide innovative industrial support to the industrial structure based on these products. , To help the industry use blockchain and other technical capabilities to complete the intelligent upgrade of industrial data.”
2. Blockchain Service Network (BSN) promotes the application of blockchain in China
On April 25, 2020, the national-level blockchain platform “Blockchain-based Service Network” (Blockchain-based Service Network) BSN was put into commercial use worldwide by the authoritative organization National Information Center. This is very exciting news for China. Cointelegraph has also been following and reporting on the development of the blockchain service network.
According to the official introduction of BSN, BSN will be a cross-cloud service, cross-portal, cross-bottom framework for deploying and running various blockchain applications. It will become the only global infrastructure that is independently innovated by China and controlled by China. The internet.
As we all know, one of the biggest obstacles to the implementation of blockchain technology is that it is expensive and difficult to build a platform, and there are many blockchain platforms, and in the future, it may also produce the same data island problem as the traditional Internet. At present, the ecology of BSN covers underlying architects, developers, cloud service providers, portal providers, and operation and maintenance parties. The ultimate goal of BSN is to become a blockchain Internet and unify the fragmented blockchain market.
Up to now, there have been 136 public city nodes deployed in the Blockchain Service Network (BSN), 98 Chinese nodes have been connected to the network, 30 are under construction, and there are 8 overseas nodes. The framework of the alliance chain is four. The public chain 12 and 2 cross-chain technologies. Cloud service providers include China Mobile, China Telecom, China Unicom, Baidu Cloud, and Azure. Among them, the integrated 12 well-known public chains include: Nervos, NEO, ETH, Tezos, EOS, IRISnet, ShareRing, Solana and Alogrand, Polkadot, BitYuan, Oasis.
Looking back on BSN’s achievements in 2020, He Yifan, CEO of Jujube Technology, the main operating body of BSN, said:
“Next year, China’s blockchain industry will flourish. But because the entire blockchain technology is still in its early stages, in addition to vigorously promoting application scenarios, we also hope that there will be more improvements in infrastructure and underlying technology. Many companies can follow and participate. Next year will be the first year of the central bank’s digital currency. The central bank’s digital currency will be one of the main driving forces to promote the development of the blockchain industry. I also hope that companies in the industry will pay more attention and discussions.”
3. China’s DCEP from paper to offline practice
On December 12, one of the four major pilot cities for digital currency by the People’s Bank of China, Suzhou’s digital RMB red envelope has been officially used, and four payment scenarios have been implemented. “Dual offline payment”, offline payment, online payment, cash on delivery.
This marks a new milestone in the development of China’s central bank digital currency.
China is one of the first countries to study central bank digital currencies. In 2014, Zhou Xiaochuan, then governor of the central bank, proposed the idea of building a digital currency. The central bank also established the world’s first official institution engaged in the research and development of legal digital currencies-central bank digital currency Institute, began to study legal digital currency.
After 6 years of research and repeated practice, on August 15, the Ministry of Commerce of China announced that the digital renminbi (DCEP) will be used as a pilot in 28 provinces and cities (regions) in China.
Since the vast majority of Chinese residents have become accustomed to the electronic payment of Alipay and WeChat, the large-scale promotion of DCEP will be very easy in the future. However, the introduction of DCEP is unlikely to cause any interference to China’s current electronic payment pattern. It will only allow Chinese residents One more choice. DCEP’s offline payment experience will make Chinese people and companies pay more attention to blockchain technology, promote more corporate research and adoption of blockchain, and accelerate the development of the entire industry.
Regarding the development of DCEP in China in 2021 and the future, Huobi University President Yu Jianing said:
“From the current pilot, the digital renminbi has relatively complete payment functions, and common online and offline scenarios have been supported, and payments can be realized in a network-free environment. But the significance of digital renminbi is more than that. It can be extended to the future. Payment needs for new technological scenarios. For example, in the 5G era, driverless cars, Internet of Things equipment, and industrial Internet will be widely used, and the demand for transactions between things will continue to increase, and the current currency and financial system cannot meet For these needs, the renminbi must be upgraded to a digital renminbi to meet the potential transaction and financial needs of these scenarios. The digital renminbi is a future-oriented form of currency. In the future digital era, all assets, including human identities, will be digitized. The popularity of digital renminbi It will accelerate the process of China’s asset digitization and identity digitization, and in turn will promote the further development of the digital economy. In the future, the digital renminbi will bring a series of brand-new business opportunities and provide a source of impetus for the transformation of traditional industries to “new smart business”.
Fourth, the Chinese government has strengthened supervision
On October 23, the People’s Bank of China publicly solicited opinions on the “People’s Bank of China Law of the People’s Republic of China (Revised Draft for Solicitation of Comments)”. It is worth noting that the new “Draft for Comments” has laws related to digital tokens.
Relevant legal professionals said that this is the first time that China has included relevant provisions related to digital currency into the scope of the law. It has appeared in the public eye in the form of “Draft for Comments”. On the one hand, it affirms the legal status of the central bank’s digital currency, and on the other On the one hand, it also implies that other digital currencies in any form are not legal in China.
As the U.S. Department of Justice and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) have intensified their supervision of the cryptocurrency market, supervision has also been strengthened globally, and China is no exception. For some digital currency exchanges that are registered overseas and have physical operations in China, the supervision of relevant departments has been further strengthened.
There is no doubt that as a developing superpower, China is one of the fastest adopting new technologies. Chinese consumers are more likely to accept new technologies, and this willingness to accept new technologies will give China an advantage over any developed country. The significant population base and the base of netizens, the popularization of mobile Internet and payment, a large number of talents, and government support for technology adoption are all factors that have made great progress in China’s blockchain field. Especially in 2020 when the new crown pneumonia is pandemic, the government’s demand for blockchain technology adoption in public services such as medical care, charity, epidemic prevention, and traceability has become more urgent, which has promoted the development of China’s entire blockchain industry to a certain extent.
