China's banking industry has landed dozens of blockchain applications, who is providing technology for financial giants

Text 丨 Interlink Pulse · Golden Walk

 

The combination of banking and blockchain is on the fast track.

At the end of February, the Central Bank issued the "Technical Security Specifications for Financial Distributed Ledgers." This is considered to be the application of the blockchain in the financial sector recognized by the central bank, and the development barriers of the blockchain in the financial sector are more than half removed.

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In terms of size and influence in the financial sector, banks are big brothers. Mutual Chain Pulse has sorted out nearly 30 blockchain projects of more than 20 banking institutions such as state-owned commercial banks, professional banks, joint-stock commercial banks, and found blockchain technology service providers for these projects.

Bank Blockchain Layout: Focus on Infrastructure Construction, Supply Chain Finance

In the global banking industry, more than 100 banks have conducted blockchain application exploration and layout. And since China ’s central bank deployed blockchain technology in 2014, state-owned commercial banks and joint-stock commercial banks have also entered.

For example, the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, Agricultural Bank of China, Bank of China, China Construction Bank, Ping An Bank, and China Merchants Bank, which participated in the drafting of the blockchain standard for the financial industry, have already carried out extensive blockchain financial practices.

The reason why blockchain can be favored by banking institutions is because it can solve the two key problems of reducing costs and improving efficiency in the industry.

For example, banks have previously consumed a lot of human and financial resources to maintain the capital database, and the management of distributed accounting and collective maintenance through blockchain technology can effectively reduce the cost of database maintenance. For example, in cross-border payment scenarios, point-to-point through blockchain technology This method can facilitate the rapid completion of cross-border payment settlement between the two parties, while improving efficiency and ensuring the security of transactions.

In addition, the blockchain also has a certain effect in terms of supervision. Putting user information and transaction records on the chain can effectively help banks carry out supervision and reduce risks such as fraud and money laundering.

As banks gradually embrace the blockchain field, banking institutions have also applied blockchain technology to multi-business fields. The inter-chain pulse statistics of nearly 30 blockchain projects of more than 20 banking institutions found that the bank's blockchain is most concentrated in the field of basic platform construction and supply chain finance.

Blockchain business layout of various banks

(Tabulation: mutual chain pulse) Statistics of mutual chain pulse, 6 banks including Minsheng Bank and Industrial and Commercial Bank of China have layout on the basic platform of blockchain: Industrial and Commercial Bank of China has ICBC Seal Chain; Construction Bank and China Everbright Bank have BaaS platform; Minsheng Bank has a blockchain cloud service platform; SPD Bank has a financial-level alliance chain governance platform; Ping An of China has an account chain BaaS platform.

In the field of supply chain finance, there are also six banks developing blockchain applications. And the supply chain finance projects of these six banks are relatively concentrated in the second half of 2017 to launch and go online.

As early as August 2017, the Agricultural Bank launched the online agricultural e-commerce financing system; in the same month, Zhejiang Commercial Bank launched an enterprise “receivables chain platform” based on blockchain technology.

Following September 2017, Guiyang Bank's supply chain financial platform Shuangrong Chain went online; in December 2017, Huaxia Bank and Xingbei Cloud Chain cooperated to create a blockchain supply chain financial platform; at the end of 2017 At that time, "Ping An Yibei" was renamed "Supply Chain Account Receivable Service Platform" and began to develop supply chain finance based on blockchain technology. Since October 2018, CITIC Bank has also launched an innovative product of the supply chain financial platform, e-chain-cope with circulation. "

In addition to basic platforms and supply chain finance, banks also attach importance to the combination of blockchain and payment services.

Also in 2017, China Merchants Bank applied blockchain technology to direct cross-border payment in March. In December of the same year, it completed the first free-trade blockchain cross-border payment business; in April 2017, China UnionPay Union Everbright Bank and SPD Bank established a multi-center trusted POS electronic purchase order system; in August 2018, Bank of China completed a USD international for customers between Hebei Xiong'an and Seoul, South Korea through a blockchain cross-border payment system. money transfer.

The areas with relatively few banks are banking guarantees, security, bills and bond issuance.

Among them, the guarantee business and anti-counterfeiting fields are only found in Industrial Bank. In February and September 2017, Industrial Bank launched a bid guarantee system based on blockchain technology and a blockchain anti-counterfeiting platform. In the field of bills and bonds, They are the blockchain projects of Zheshang Bank and Bank of China in the region.

Technical supporters: Native blockchain companies account for most of the cloud, and FunChain takes the lead

At present, banks use and develop blockchains in multiple business fields, some of which are based on their own technical teams and platforms, but rely more on the support of professional technology companies.

Mutual chain pulse statistics The technical supporters of the above-mentioned banks' vigorously developed projects show that the current development of blockchain business by banks is different from other major industries that rely mainly on BAT and other major manufacturers. The main technical service providers of the bank's blockchain project are native blockchain enterprises such as Cloud Elephant, FunChain, and Bobby.

This is because financial institutions develop blockchain business, which not only has extremely high requirements on system performance, security, operation and maintenance in terms of technology, but also requires enterprises to have certain financial system R & D and implementation capabilities.

"In terms of technology, the bank's blockchain project requires higher availability, especially operability, such as fault recovery in the shortest time possible through a high-availability architecture; system exceptions and exception operations are eliminated through system monitoring and privileged operations. So this poses greater challenges to the R & D, implementation, operation and maintenance capabilities of the blockchain technology service providers. "Those in the industry who participated in the bank's blockchain project have introduced the pulse to each other. Not only that, in the financial field, such as privacy protection and security, it is required to support national secrets, data isolation, etc .; in terms of operation and maintenance, it supports automatic operation and maintenance, and in addition, it requires support for node failure recovery in milliseconds. Projects in the non-financial field will not have special requirements for the above, and relatively focus only on system stability.

Based on this, native blockchain enterprises have become the main technical supporters of banks.

Native blockchain companies were established in the early stages of blockchain development. For example, Yunxiang Blockchain was established in 2014, and FunChain Technology was established in 2016, with a certain amount of technology accumulation and reserves. The most promising field for blockchain is the financial sector, so the main exploration direction of native blockchain companies is mostly the financial direction.

At the same time, as a blockchain enterprise, its main business is to provide blockchain solutions for enterprises and government agencies to meet the commercial needs of enterprise applications in such aspects as performance, security, privacy, reliability, operation and maintenance. Compared with other types of companies, native blockchain companies have more enterprise resources to fully support banks and meet their technical and business requirements.

According to statistical data, the dimensions of the number of service banks and the number of projects providing technical support are compared. Among the native enterprises that banks rely on, Cloud Elephant Blockchain and FunChain Technology are at the forefront.

The pulse of the inter-chain is combed. The Cloud Elephant blockchain has provided technical support for 5 banking projects and served more than 40 banking institutions. QuChain Technology provided blockchain technology for 10 projects of 8 banking institutions. stand by.

And these two blockchain technology companies, in addition to the basic platform field, have served several banking institutions respectively. In the remaining business areas, no direct competitive relationship is currently formed.

The services provided by Yunxiang Blockchain for the banking industry are mainly concentrated in Forfaiting and Letter of Credit.

(Tabulation: interlink pulse)

Among these projects, the project with the most bank participants is the Blockchain Forfaiting Trading Platform (BCFT), which is supported by Yunxiang. The platform was initiated by CITIC Bank, and was designed and developed by CITIC Bank, Bank of China, and Minsheng Bank. Currently, there are 39 bank participants in the platform.

Before the launch of this platform, CITIC Bank, Bank of China, and Minsheng Bank also launched the Domestic Letter of Credit Information Transmission System (BCLC) in 2017, which is also technically supported by Yunxiang. It is reported that the blockchain platforms under the two business scenarios of Forfaiting and Letter of Credit belong to the blockchain trade financing platform jointly developed by these three banks.

In addition, the mutual chain pulse is concerned that in October 2019, Everbright Bank, which is the core node of the blockchain Forfaiting Trading Platform (BCFT), is also in the field of letter of credit. But instead of participating in the domestic letter of credit information transmission system (BCLC), in July 2019, based on the technical support of the Yunxiang blockchain, the development of the "Domestic Letter of Credit Blockchain Project" began.

Unlike Yunxiang Blockchain, FunChain Technology serves more business fields such as bank's basic platform construction, supply chain finance, bank guarantee, electronic contract, payment, outsourced collection of assets, bills, etc.

In terms of basic platforms, FunChain has provided technical support to Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, China Construction Bank, and Everbright Bank to help them build a blockchain BaaS platform. In the field of supply chain finance, FunChain Technology has helped Agricultural Bank and Zheshang Bank to create the “e-chain loan and blockchain enterprise receivables chain platform” for agricultural internet e-commerce financing system.

(Tabulation: interlink pulse)

In addition, Aershan helped Bank of China launch two systems of blockchain cross-border payment and blockchain bond issuance; Ping An of China is based on an independently developed one-account chain, which has been launched in the areas of supply chain finance and trade finance. The supply chain accounts receivable service (SAS) platform and the IFAB trade financing project were introduced.

Everbright and Ping An lead joint-stock commercial banks

In fact, by looking at the bank's business layout and its project technical supporters, you can learn from the side the most active banking institutions in the blockchain field.

According to incomplete statistics of the inter-chain pulse, the current layout of China Everbright Bank is more extensive. It has six blockchain projects distributed in the fields of basic platform construction, forfaiting, letter of credit, payment, and asset management. Except for asset management, the launch of the blockchain-based ubiquitous capital management Sunshine Chain was co-sponsored by IT financial service provider Wintime Win. The other projects of China Everbright Bank are made by Yunxiang Blockchain and FunChain. Technology provides technical support.

Ping An Bank currently has 4 financial industry blockchain applications, and most of them are based on the one-account chain independently developed by the group's brother units.

According to industry sources, ICBC is also based on its own technology and is conducting a blockchain layout.

In the fourth quarter of 2017, the ICBC Software Development Center's Blockchain and Biometrics Innovation Lab developed ICBC's first independently controllable blockchain 1.0 platform. This platform has helped Guizhou's poverty alleviation and ICBC projects. Put into production.

In terms of the number of applications, China Everbright Bank, Ping An Bank and other joint-stock commercial banks are relatively leading. If viewed from the time dimension, Postal Savings Bank and Minsheng Bank were the earliest. In 2016, they launched a blockchain custody business system and a blockchain underlying platform. In 2017, more joint-stock commercial banks were promoting application development.

However, at present, led by the central bank, state-owned commercial banks, joint-stock commercial banks, and even city commercial banks, in fact, are actively deploying blockchain technology in the multi-business field of banks, and projects and platforms have begun to take shape. The future development of blockchain technology in the banking industry is expected, and the market for technology providers is still broad.

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