People's Daily article: How big is the prospect of "blockchain + finance" (financial staff)

People's Daily reporter Ge Mengchao

Source: People's Daily (November 11, 2019, 18 edition)

The original title is "How is the prospect of "blockchain + finance" (financial staff), which helps solve the financial problems of high credit risk and high payment processing costs?

Recently, the “blockchain” has become a hot word. In recent years, digital currencies such as Bitcoin have been chased by capital, and the blockchain as the underlying technology has gradually entered the public eye. What changes will the “blockchain + finance” bring to finance?

• Blockchain assets are becoming more mainstream, and two pension investments are doubling
• Di Gang, deputy director of the Central Bank Digital Currency Research Institute, talks about blockchain concept, innovation and 3.0 new ecology (with full text of speech)
• Bitcoin is expected to complete its listing in early 2020, raising up to US$500 million

In fact, the combination of blockchain technology and finance is not accidental. Simply put, the blockchain is a distributed shared ledger and database with decentralized, non-tamperable, full trace, traceability and so on. Finance is based on trust and cooperation. These characteristics of the blockchain lay the foundation for creating trust. Blockchain technology is of great significance in solving financial problems such as large credit risk, low efficiency of fund utilization, and high cost of payment processing.

In reality, bitcoin is not equal to the blockchain, and digital currency is only one of the applications of blockchain technology in the financial field. In the areas of supply chain finance, payment and settlement, trade finance, financial transactions, etc., “blockchain+” has rich application scenarios and imagination.

Let me talk about supply chain finance first. The core enterprises in the supply chain can pass their own credits to the small and micro enterprises through the blockchain, and solve the financing difficulties of small and micro enterprises to a certain extent. For example, Zheshang Bank has developed a receivables chain platform based on blockchain technology, which transforms the company's accounts receivable into electronic payment settlement and financing tools. ICBC e-network financing financial service platform launched by Industrial and Commercial Bank of China has registered more than 500 supply chain enterprises such as China Railway and China Merchants Group, and has issued loans of more than 3 billion yuan.

In terms of trade finance, by recording the core documents and key processes of the trade finance business, the trade partners can obtain real information and quickly execute with smart contracts. The application of blockchain technology can effectively promote the formation of market trust and reduce the financing cost of enterprises. The data shows that the first phase of the People's Bank of China's trade finance blockchain platform project has been on the line for more than a year. It has achieved more than 30,000 business lines, more than 5,000 business transactions, and a business volume of about 75 billion yuan.

Insiders pointed out that although the application of blockchain technology has broad prospects, the number of projects that have truly landed and produced social benefits is not much. The blockchain technology is still in the early stage of development and still needs to be treated rationally. In the next step, we should use blockchain technology to explore digital economic model innovation, increase motivation for business environment optimization, and provide support for promoting high-quality economic development. “The blockchain technology has great potential for development and will be widely used in the future. But for blockchain technology, the most important thing is to land and serve the real economy.” Shanghai Municipal People's Government Counselor, China Europe International Business School Economics Sheng Songcheng, a professor of learning and finance, said.

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