China’s New National Blockchain Platform Poised to Accelerate the Industry

China’s Blockchain-based Service Network (BSN) is now ready for businesses to use globally. Shan Zhiguang, chairman of the Blockchain Service Network Development Alliance, announced the public launch on April 25, together with government officials and organizational leaders. The global infrastructure behind this new Chinese initiative will allow companies to develop and run blockchain applications more quickly, and at a lower cost than ever. Six months of beta testing proceeded the launch, during which over 2,000 developers got to try out the BSN, according to Cointelegraph.

Blockchain Benefits in Brief

Because records on the blockchain are encrypted and electronically distributed as sequential blocks, they are extremely difficult to modify. Owners of intellectual property can benefit from the permanence and security of the blockchain, as can providers that store sensitive records. The finance and technology sectors are prime players, and there are also potential benefits for the real estate industry – especially for people who deal with security token offerings.

Although the blockchain is innovative and potentially revolutionary to many industries, development costs have been high, in addition to the costs associated with modifying business processes and systems for its use. The BSN aims to change that. According to the BSN Development Association, as cited by The Block Crypto, building a “traditional three-peer consortium blockchain local area network-style environment” costs around RMB 100,000 ($14,000 USD). In contrast, utilizing the BSN to form an operational chain costs only about RMB 2,000-3,000 ($280-$425 USD) a year. That’s why the Association called the BSN “the internet of blockchains." These reduced costs will empower students and small businesses to innovate on the blockchain, accelerating its growth.

The People and Companies Behind the BSN

The Association’s founding members include the State Information Center of China, along with five companies in the tech, finance, and communications industries. These include China Mobile Communications Corporation Design Institute, China Mobile Communications Corporation Government and Enterprise Service Company, China UnionPay Corporation, China Mobile Financial Technology, and Beijing Red Date Technology.

As of April 25, Chairman Zhiguang reported 128 public nodes on the BSN, according to Cointelegraph. These include 76 nodes in China, eight overseas city nodes covering six continents, and 44 nodes under construction. According to The Block Crypto, support for most of these nodes is provided by China Mobile, China Telecom, and China Unicom, three telecommunication carriers. Currently, in the hopes of increasing to 200 nodes, the Association is in discussions with global cloud service providers and carriers, along with other blockchain industry leaders.

A recent Association whitepaper remarked on the state of the blockchain: “High-cost deployment, operation, and maintenance structure is the main current bottleneck toward blockchain development [...] thus, there is an urgent need within the industry to create a public infrastructure network.”

Blockchain Technology and Cryptocurrency

If you’ve been following developments in China, you may have read about the nation’s Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC), called the DCEP. More recently, several other central banks announced their own experimentation with CBDCs, perhaps in response to COVID-19, as put forth in a May CoinDesk opinion piece. For instance, the Bank of France launched an initiative for a digital euro this spring, and South Korea’s central bank followed suit with their own CBDC announcement soon afterward.

From digital currencies to copyrights, real estate to recordkeeping, the blockchain has much to explore. Follow VerifyInvestor.com for the news cryptocurrency enthusiasts and other investors need to know