Economic Reference: The "blockchain + finance" scenario is gradually unfolding whether it can be applied on a large scale.

Source: Economic Information

Author: Luo Shu Yi Zhang Mo

The reporter learned in the interview that at present, the application of blockchain technology has been extended to the fields of digital finance, especially in the fields of supply chain finance, cross-border financial payment, etc., many applications have been “rooted”, and in asset securitization, In areas such as collateral, the application of blockchain also has certain potential.

However, industry experts also pointed out that the blockchain technology as a whole is still in the early stage of exploration, and some application scenarios still have certain difficulties, but it is still time to give an answer if it can be applied in large quantities in the financial field. Especially for the "digital currency" that the market is very concerned about, whether the blockchain technology can be applied or not remains to be verified. At the same time, the future development of the blockchain needs to be based on the premise of supervision.

• Forbes: Will the US Internal Revenue Service kill cryptocurrency transactions?
• It is not enough to have a blockchain, and there is a way out in combination with AIOT.
• Bybit CTO Owen Zhuang: Why do more and more people choose sustainable contracts? | Chain Node AMA

Supply chain finance and other fields "rooted"

According to the reporter's incomplete statistics, 15 A-share listed banks disclosed blockchain-related business in the 2019 mid-year report, covering various areas such as supply chain finance, cross-border innovation payment, asset securitization, and electronic invoicing. At the same time, a number of financial technology companies have also tried to use their blockchain technology to empower their businesses.

Judging from the information disclosed by various institutions, blockchain technology has been more widely used in trade finance and supply chain finance.

In the case of construction behavior, in October this year, CCB officially released the “BCTrade2.0 Blockchain Trade Finance Platform”. The CCB blockchain trade finance platform was launched in April 2018. At present, the cumulative trading volume of the platform has exceeded 360 billion yuan. It has deployed domestic letters of credit, Forfeiting, international factoring, and re-conservation functions for banks and non-banks. Three types of customers, such as institutions and trading companies, provide trade finance services based on blockchain platforms.

CreditEase applies the blockchain double-chain structure patent technology to the supply chain finance sector. It is understood that the supply chain financial control system based on blockchain technology that realizes the double-chain structure announced by CreditEase can record the real production process and circulation process of financing assets, enabling the participants to trace the original information generated by the assets and facilitate The administrator sets the permissions and allows the participants to split and quickly store the data by simply joining one of the authorized blockchains.

In addition to financial institutions, the relevant financial regulatory authorities are also promoting the application of the blockchain in some of the more suitable scenarios. The People's Bank of China trade finance platform was successfully launched in Shenzhen on September 4, 2018. The platform is based on the underlying technology of the blockchain independently developed by the People's Bank of China Digital Money Institute. According to a set of data disclosed on November 15, as of the end of October 2019, 29 banks and 485 outlets participated in the promotion and application, and 1898 enterprises had business operations, achieving more than 30,000 business transactions. More than 5,000, the business volume is about 75 billion yuan. The State Administration of Foreign Exchange also launched a cross-border financial blockchain service platform. The project mainly utilizes the credible technical characteristics of the blockchain, aiming at solving the problem of cross-border financing difficulties and financing of small and medium-sized enterprises, and comprehensively promoting the development of cross-border trade finance business. According to reports, the platform will also be expanded again in the near future. Based on the nine pilot provinces and cities nationwide, it will be extended to 19 provinces and cities nationwide.

Non-standard areas have great potential

“The core issue of blockchain resolution is to participate in the trust of everyone in the 'chain'.” Cao Shengxi, an associate researcher at the International Monetary Research Institute of Renmin University of China, told the Economic Information Daily that “the transaction link is complex, that is, the cost of trust. High, the number of trading participants is limited, that is, the financial link with low transaction frequency, and the application of blockchain is more mature."

According to industry insiders, in addition to the hottest application areas such as supply chain finance, there are still a number of potential financial sectors that are not worthy of attention.

Zhou Jian, CEO of Jingtong Technology and co-founder of MOAC blockchain, said in an interview with the Economic Information Daily that in the non-standard form of capital market instruments, blockchain technology can be introduced more. “Compared to the highly standardized information on stocks, treasury bonds and on-market derivatives markets, capital instruments including corporate bonds, various types of notes, ABS, OTC derivatives contracts involve non-standard terms, information flows and structured processes In the issues of issue, custody, transaction, settlement, termination, etc., it is highly dependent on human participation. The information disclosure and confirmation work is very heavy, and the settlement efficiency needs to be improved. If the blockchain technology is introduced, the trust and information of stakeholders will be strengthened. The efficiency of exchange and payment will be very beneficial," he said.

In terms of asset securitization, some institutions have already tried. In June of this year, Jingdong Digital Technology Asset Management Division launched the first blockchain ABS standardization solution based on the JD BaaS platform of JD.com. The program can help ABS business participants such as asset owners, plan managers, law firms, rating agencies, accounting firms, and custodians to optimize business processes, save time and cost, and improve the efficiency of ABS issuance.

In addition, in the field of collateral, the use of blockchain technology has the same potential. “The management of collateral is extremely complicated, involving a large number of activities such as equity transfer, fund redemption, and day settlement.” Zhou Sha pointed out that “this part of the business can be greatly improved with the support of the blockchain.”

Digital currency field still needs verification

Although there have been many scenes in the financial field, experts pointed out that the blockchain technology as a whole is still in the exploration stage, and there are still some difficulties in landing. Some scenarios with higher transaction frequency and blockchain information processing efficiency are difficult to match. . The "digital currency" that is highly sought after by the capital market, whether the blockchain technology can be applied to the real application remains to be verified.

Central bankers have repeatedly stressed that the central bank does not presuppose technical routes in the process of promoting legal digital currency, which means that it does not necessarily depend on a certain technical route. The blockchain is just one of the underlying technologies of the central bank's digital currency alternative.

Di Gang, deputy director of the Institute of Digital and Monetary Research of the People's Bank of China, also said at the 2019 Trusted Blockchain Summit that it is necessary to look at the development of technology in a neutral way, instead of deifying and superstitious. Di Gang pointed out that "the blockchain sacrifices system processing performance and partial privacy at the expense of synchronous storage and co-computation of a large amount of redundant data, and is not suitable for high-concurrency payment scenarios such as retail payment."

The central bank does not presuppose technical routes, but sets a threshold for technical routes, such as meeting at least 300,000 pens per second. Zhang Zhijun, chief information security architect of the World Bank, said in an interview with the Economic Information Daily that such a high speed blockchain technology could not be achieved because the blockchain needed a consensus mechanism to record transactions. Consensus takes time, so it is necessary to sacrifice speed in order to reach consensus. Some consensus algorithms in the coalition chain can reach thousands of transactions per second. The speed of 300,000 per second is either a centralized solution or a unique distributed ledger technology.

"The currency issue should not be closed, but it should not be radical." Cao Shengxi said that the current blockchain technology uses various problems and disputes in digital currency, and may seek better solutions, such as automatic dividend payout and growth. The digital currency, as well as the global digital currency formed after a better global consensus.

The insiders also pointed out that in the future, blockchain innovation must be based on the premise of supervision. In the context of the gradual clearing of the RMB digital currency profile, financial supervision tools based on blockchain technology must be put on the agenda. In response to the next step of the development of blockchain, Wang Xinzhe, chief economist of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, said that it is necessary to conduct in-depth research on key areas, accurately grasp the law of development of blockchain technology industry, emphasize policy guidance, and clarify the technological innovation of blockchain industry. The overall thinking and implementation path of development.

We will continue to update Blocking; if you have any questions or suggestions, please contact us!