Blockchain Network to Launch in 100 Cities by China
In China, an alliance of Chinese government groups, banks, and technology firms will publicly launch the Blockchain-based Service Network (BSN). And this will be one of the first blockchain networks built and maintained by a central government. Similar to an operating system, participants can use existing blockchain programs or make their bespoke tools. And they don’t need to design a framework from the ground up.
BSN’s proponents explained that it would cut the cost of doing blockchain-based business by 80 percent. When 2020 ends, they wish to have nodes in 200 Chinese cities. After that, they think it could be a global standard.
According to the World Intellectual Property Organization, China leads the world in blockchain-related patents. Also, it goes far beyond Bitcoin (BTC) – they can use the technology to verify all kinds of transactions.
For example, JD.com, one of the largest online stores in China, uses blockchain tech to check the verification of its supply chain to customers and business partners. Specifically, those who have worries the retailer was selling a knock-off version of luxury brands. Recently, the firm made its platform open source. The General Administration of Customs uses blockchain to watch 26 international border crossings.
But even though China has successfully banned cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, digital payments are amazingly popular.
North Carolina State University’s blockchain expert, Hong Wan, stated, “Most people prefer to use WeChat or Alipay.”
Also, she said that the government might want BSN to be central to a digital currency and payment system that would compete with those services.
All in China
Based on a white paper published by the BSN’s founding members. China Mobile, China UnionPay, and payroll services firm Red Date, a lot of companies can expect to spend approximately $14,000 to build, operate, and maintain a blockchain platform for one year.
The BSN will allow programmers to develop blockchain applications without requiring them to have so much heavy lifting. And the white paper estimates it will cost businesses less than $300 to deploy an application on BSN.
In Bitcoin and other so-called permissionless blockchains, anyone can join and review the whole transaction record, applications running on the BSN will have closed membership by default.
Now, this permissioned setup is way more amenable to businesses, which usually plan to share transaction data only with trusted partners. Also, permissioned networks are easier to scale because all verifications occur in-house.
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More on BSN
Moreover, BSN’s founders announced the platform last October 15, 2019. This is about a week before Chinese President Xi Jinping declared blockchain national tech priorities. After that, each developer and enterprise-scale engineering group have been building and beta testing the platform. In the launch time, BSN Development Alliance says it wishes to have at least 100 city nodes operating the platform, each with thousands of users.
Aside from that, the BSN Alliance wants the platform to become the global standard for blockchain operations someday. However, the international partners of China might have second thoughts in joining due to privacy concerns. Also, the Chinese government will hold the BSN’s root key, which will enable it to watch every transaction made using the platform.