Li Ming, Ministry of Industry and Information Technology: China's blockchain standardization system has been in the forefront of the world, and is working on the development of the first blockchain national standard.

China News Weekly Reporter: Zhao Yizhen

Source: China News Weekly

This article was published in the editorial note of China News Weekly, 2011.11.11, No. 923. Note: The original title is "The blockchain is booming again , and the blindness of the wind and the dividends"

After years of shocks, the blockchain has been testing the waters of the industry and is welcoming the inflection point of the policy.

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On October 24, the Central Political Bureau conducted the eighteenth collective study on the status quo and trends of blockchain technology development. The industry behind this news is that the blockchain no longer uses digital currency as the only application scenario. Since 2016, blockchain technology has rapidly developed in industries other than digital currency, and has gradually formed three ecological models including infrastructure, industry applications and integrated services.

In January of this year, China Telecom and Telecommunications Institute issued the "blockchain patent situation white paper 1.0 version" shows that the current blockchain patents are mainly distributed in the United States, China, the United Kingdom, South Korea. Of the top 50 most influential blockchain scholars in the world in 2018, 30% are from the US, 28% are from China, and 42% are from other countries.

"China's blockchain application is in the forefront of the world, and it is already a trend of flowers." Li Ming, director of the Blockchain Research Office of China Electronics Technology Standardization Research Institute under the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, analyzed the China News Weekly and said that China's current block The application of the chain is developing rapidly. Although the underlying technology platform still relies on foreign countries, the overall level has already ranked among the top in the world. “China has contributed two important standards in the more than ten standard projects of blockchain international standards”.

Since 2017, domestic companies that focus on blockchain applications have begun to rush, targeting Internet giants, financial technology companies and small and medium-sized banks. The application scenario of the blockchain has also taken root from the financial industry and gradually extended to many traditional industries.

The application of know-how and the silence of technology is a feature that accompanies the development of blockchains. In the interview, several industry experts pointed out that with the deep integration of blockchain technology and various industries, it will certainly usher in the development of blockchain industry, but still need to be wary of the blind application of blockchain technology, maintenance block The benign development of the chain.

Clarify the border and force the "blockchain +"

The blockchain has its own financial attributes, and its technical characteristics are very suitable for the trading needs of the financial industry. But the financial industry is not the only application scenario where blockchain technology can land. As early as 2016, the White Paper on China's Blockchain Technology and Application Development published by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has listed six application scenarios with relatively mature applications, broad application prospects or potential application value, including financial services, supply chain management, Culture and entertainment, intelligent manufacturing, social welfare and education and employment.

In the past three years, the number of industry service companies in the blockchain field has surpassed that of financial companies, becoming the hottest application direction of blockchain technology.

Since 2017, Tencent, Ant Financial, Jingdong, CITIC Group, and Ping An Group have successively launched the blockchain BaaS platform for corporate customers, covering financial, real estate, government, medical, logistics, smart cities and other fields. . In the initial stage of the “blockchain+” ecology, a multi-party trend has emerged.

In the early exploration of blockchain applications, the digital currency application form with the blockchain as the underlying technology took the lead, and the barbaric digital currency also breeds many problems and prejudices. In this new wave of enthusiasm, we still need to be alert to the speculative phenomenon in the first wave of blockchain booms, to guard against the risk of money fraud in the currency circle, and also to encourage enterprises that really focus on the development and application of blockchain technology in the chain. .

"It must be clear that the benefit of blockchain technology is by no means equal to the recognition of ICO and disguised currency. It is also necessary to be wary of the fraudulent behavior of the blockchain flag." Director of China Finance Research Center, School of Economics and Management, Tsinghua University He Ping pointed out to China News Weekly that the government has always encouraged the support of blockchain technology, but it is forbidden to use the blockchain to issue virtual currency and speculate on air currency. "This is also the central block. Chain technology innovation, encouraging technology applications and industrial development, is not an endorsement of virtual currency."

On October 28th, the number of blockchain concept stocks doubled overnight, from more than 80 stocks to more than 170, and more than 100 blockchain concept stocks went up, and some companies' "chains" were intended.

“To judge whether a company really has the ability to apply blockchain, it needs to see the business value and social benefits that it can ultimately create.” He Ping bluntly told China News Weekly, “The so-called innovation of some projects is divorced from the real economy. Demand is completely speculative and a strict punishment mechanism should be established to control it."

The person in charge of the blockchain of Tencent Cloud also believes that in the early stage of the industry's development, the industry dividend that broke out early is easy for the practitioners to lose their hearts and lose their professional ethics. It also attracts some "gold digger" with ulterior motives to develop the industry's famous fraud circle. The reality of money, which dampens the trust of investors, also tarnishes the reputation of the industry.

Compliance risk still exists

The normative development of any industry requires standards to promote. As a new technology, the standards of blockchain technology are still being explored and improved.

“Standard is the cornerstone of industry development and is a consensus formed within a certain scope. Standards can enable more people to use complex technologies in a more convenient way, accelerate the development of the industry and benefit the whole society.” China Electronics Technology Standardization Institute Li Ming, director of the blockchain research department, told China News Weekly that in the early stage of industry development, it is especially necessary to use standards to guide everyone's understanding and understanding of the blockchain. "If there is no corresponding standard, everyone will build each. Data formats, communication protocols, etc. are inconsistent, which will have a great impact on the development of the industry."

China's blockchain standardization work began in 2016. At the end of the year, under the guidance of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the China Blockchain Technology and Industry Development Forum was established. In May 2017, under the guidance of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the “First China Blockchain Development Competition” and the “Blockchain Technology and Application Summit”, the country’s first blockchain standard “Blockchain Reference Framework” was officially released. In December 2017, the “Blockchain Data Format Specification” standard was released to provide reference for the data structure design of the blockchain system and provide a unified data standard for the blockchain industry application.

“After the publication of the two blocks of the Blockchain Reference Framework and the Blockchain Data Format Specification, the National Blockchain and Distributed Accounting Technology Standardization Technical Committee is under preparation, and the first blockchain national standard is also underway. Development." Li Ming told China News Weekly that due to the many application scenarios of blockchain technology in China, the blockchain standardization system has been in the forefront of the world, and at the same time, it has played an important role in promoting the formulation of international standards.

The technical standards of the blockchain industry are being established, and the positive value of blockchain technology is gradually emerging, but there are still a series of risks that cannot be ignored in the process of industrial development.

According to the "White Paper on China's Blockchain Industry in 2018", the Information Center of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology pointed out that on the one hand, compliance risks still exist; on the other hand, the risks at the technical level cannot be ignored. Although the blockchain combines multiple technologies such as cryptography and distributed storage, this does not mean that it has no loopholes.

For example, the blockchain needs to introduce a large amount of public resources to participate in the system. If the number of nodes participating in the calculation is too small, it will face the possibility of 51% being attacked, which seriously threatens the operation and value of the network system. In addition, private key and terminal security, traditional network attack methods cause network congestion and other issues, will also lead to greater risks when the blockchain technology is applied.

In addition, problems such as imperfect data cooperation infrastructure and inadequate data privacy protection are still common pain points in the industry.

“In the blockchain outlet, although there is a strong demand and willingness for inter-institutional data cooperation, in the specific cooperation process, data cooperation is very difficult due to obstacles such as business value, data security, privacy protection, and infrastructure.” Ant District The head of the blockchain team admitted to China News Weekly that in the process of data cooperation and sharing, there have been numerous “data islands”.

“We believe that one of the main directions of the blockchain is to use data governance to break the application of data silos.” ​​Ping An’s account-blockchain team told China Newsweek, through the combination of blockchain technology and cutting-edge cryptography. It can provide a new solution for data governance and data silos: return the ownership and control of data to the data owner, enable the data owner to control the rights, and realize the "shared" data without "sharing" the data. The value of solving the contradiction between data utilization and privacy.

Be wary of blind applications

At present, the blockchain industry is still in the early stage of development and will usher in a stage of big waves.

As of the first half of this year, the domestic blockchain initial project financing roundup still accounted for 88.06%. At the same time, the capital market is showing rationality. Since 2015, the proportion of strategic investment in China's blockchain sector has gradually increased, from less than 10% to 24.38% in 2018.

"China has a good digital economic base and market scale, and the reliable blockchain industry application needs to be verified by the market." Any of the directors of the China Financial Research Center of the School of Economics and Management of Tsinghua University believes that from the perspective of technical reserves and capital support, The improvement of China's independent innovation capability also provides a guarantee for the accelerated commercialization of the blockchain.

In the development process of blockchain technology to enable the real economy, talents are the first resource, the key guarantee for mastering the core advantages of the industry, standing at the industrial commanding heights in the world and having the right to speak in the industrial development.

“The talent threshold of the blockchain is divided into two parts: the technical threshold and the application threshold.” He Ping pointed out that at the technical level, the blockchain is an integrated technology that integrates many technical categories, including encryption algorithms, consensus mechanisms, and distributed records. Accounts, etc., technical talents mainly from the computer department and automation department, relatively adequate.

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