Does Blockchain Standardization Matter?
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The development history of blockchain standard formulation in my country
Thirteen five"Thirteen five"National Informatization Plan".
On May 16, 2017, held in Hangzhou"Blockchain Technology and Application Summit and the First China Blockchain Development Competition"Last year, under the guidance of the Department of Information Technology and Software Services of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the China Blockchain Technology and Industry Development Forum announced the "Blockchain and Distributed Ledger Technology Reference Architecture" standard. This is the first domestic blockchain under the guidance of the government. The blockchain basic standard is of great significance to the ecological development of the blockchain industry.
In December 2017, the first national standard in the field of blockchain, "Information Technology Blockchain and Distributed Ledger Technology Reference Architecture" (plan number: 20173824-T-469), led by the China Electronics Standardization Institute, was officially established. It means that China has further accelerated the pace of blockchain standardization.
In fact, as early as September 2016, the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) established the Blockchain and Distributed Accounting Technical Committee (ISO/TC 307), which is responsible for formulating international standards in the field of blockchain and distributed accounting technology. Since then, our country has also begun to actively contact and assist and formulate international standards. In March 2017, China Electronics Standardization Institute began to undertake the ISO/TC 307 domestic technical counterparts.
In December 2019, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology organized the establishment of the National Blockchain and Distributed Accounting Technology Standardization Technical Committee, and the Secretariat was undertaken by the China Electronics Standardization Institute. At present, the China Institute of Electronic Technology Standardization is responsible for conducting software tests on whether the blockchain system meets the blockchain standards, and issuing relevant certificates after passing the test. On June 11, 2020, the 4th China Blockchain Development Competition and the Guangdong Seminar on Blockchain National Standards and System Testing Standards was held in Shenzhen. The first blockchain standardization evaluation workstation that can professionally conduct national standard declaration and testing Shenzhen was the first to be established.
At the same time, various industries and many provinces and cities in my country have also begun to actively promote or assist the formulation and launch of blockchain standards. Such as Guizhou, Hainan, Shenzhen, State Grid, Payment and Clearing Association and so on. The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology of my country has spared no effort in promoting the formulation of blockchain standards.
In late May 2018, Li Yan, deputy director of the Information Service Department of the Information and Software Department of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, revealed that my country has begun to establish a national blockchain standard, and plans to promote the construction of a blockchain standard system from the top-level design. In October, at the Trusted Blockchain Summit, Wang Xinzhe, Chief Economist of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, said that the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology will actively build and improve the blockchain standard system, accelerate the development and application of key standards, and gradually build a sound standard system. At the same time, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology will actively connect with international standard organizations such as ITU and ISO, substantially participate in the international standardization of more blockchains, and actively contribute more "Chinese power".
At the end of December 2019, Wei Kai, deputy director of the Cloud Computing and Big Data Research Institute of the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology, said that the Academy of Information and Communications Technology is accelerating the development of trusted blockchain standards. At present, 19 special groups have been established in supply chain finance, judicial certificate deposit, traceability, insurance, etc., and 345 domestic and foreign member units have been absorbed.
According to public reports on July 22, 2020, the central bank recently issued documents and evaluation rules to regulate blockchain applications in the financial industry. This is the first blockchain-related regulatory document issued by the highest authority in China. An authoritative person told the Securities Times reporter, "The central bank has indeed issued a blockchain standard, which is regarded as an industry standard. It is still in the process and should be listed in the Gold Standard Committee soon."
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Why develop blockchain standards? What's the point?
① Specification and guidance
The development time of blockchain technology is relatively short, but the development momentum is rapid. During this period, it is inevitable to take "detours" due to the excessive development speed, or there are criminals who take advantage of the loopholes, which makes the emerging markets that have not yet been regulated chaotic. According to the "Blockchain Industry Security Analysis Report" released by the White Hat Security Research Institute, from 2011 to April 2018, the global losses caused by blockchain security incidents reached as much as 2.864 billion US dollars. In the past two years, the amount of related losses has shown an exponential rise. Since 2018 alone, the amount of losses has reached 1.9 billion US dollars. Standardized standards can play a positive role in promoting the development of blockchain. Industry pioneers and professionals can integrate their advantages and guide the industry to accelerate growth in a standardized platform and environment.
At the same time, the Northwest Information Daily also issued an article stating that the real implementation of the blockchain is inseparable from a sound standard system. The formulation of a unified blockchain technology standard will help the industry, ordinary people and relevant regulatory authorities to accurately identify, eliminate the false and preserve the true, reduce industry chaos, and protect the legitimate rights and interests of investors. Many industry experts said that interconnection and interoperability has become the fundamental appeal of blockchain. There is a lack of consensus in the industry, and limited research and development efforts cannot be effectively concentrated, which will not be able to meet the needs of the blockchain application development market.
② Grasp the "initiative" and enhance influence
Zhou Ping, director of the Software Engineering and Evaluation Center of the China Electronics Standardization Institute of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, and secretary-general of the China Blockchain Technology and Industry Development Forum, said in an interview that the formulation of international standards aims to regulate the application of blockchain, which can be used globally. Effectively break through the cognitive and technical barriers between different countries, industries and systems, prevent application risks, and provide an important standardization basis for the development of the global blockchain industry. my country's active participation in the formulation of international blockchain standards, on the one hand, can enhance my country's international influence and discourse power in the blockchain field, and on the other hand, participate in the formulation of international blockchain standards. For my country's own blockchain standards The formulation also has certain reference and reference significance, which can promote China's blockchain technology to the world.
In addition, there is another very important reason why my country actively promotes the formulation of blockchain standards. In 2018, Li Ming, Director of the Blockchain Research Office of the Electronic Industry Standardization Institute of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, said that "China has suffered a lot in terms of international intellectual property rights and standards. Now in terms of blockchain, China has now formed an international More than 200 patents in the field of blockchain technology, and even stand at the forefront of world technology.” Li Yan, deputy director of the Information Service Division of the Information and Software Department of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, also said that actively building standards that include trusted blockchain The construction of a standard system including the blockchain technology can guide the healthy development of the industry, actively carry out international cooperation, and enhance my country's international influence in the blockchain field.
Recently, IPRdaily and incoPat Innovation Index Research Center released the "Global Enterprise Blockchain Invention Patent Ranking in the First Half of 2020". The list shows that Alibaba (Alipay) ranked first with 1,457 patents, and Tencent and Inspur ranked second. three. It is reported that Alibaba’s blockchain is mainly from the AntChain team. Last year, the number of global blockchain applications was 1,505. The number of blockchain patent applications of AntChain in the first half of this year is close to that of last year. In addition, according to the IPRdaily report, nearly half of the top 100 companies on the list are Chinese companies, accounting for 46%, followed by the United States accounting for 25%.
③Unify standards and promote the implementation of joint blockchain technology and applications
In terms of chain-based technology, the standards of various countries, regions, industries, and even the same industry are not uniform, which will lead to the slow development of blockchain technology applications. Blockchain technology lacks unified standards in terms of application, security, and interoperability. The performance of blockchain platforms is greatly affected by factors such as network environment, number of nodes, consensus algorithms, and business logic. The lack of unified standards for performance index evaluation will affect the cross-chain interconnection, scene expansion and industrial cooperation of blockchain technology to a certain extent. Cross-chain technology can be said to be the key to realizing the value network, because it is a bridge that can open up the information islands between chains and realize the outward expansion and connection of blockchains. Therefore, the formulation of unified standards in the blockchain field is of great significance for the implementation and integration of blockchain applications across industries and across borders.
So why develop blockchain standards? Because blockchain technology is of great significance to the development of future science and technology, but the technology is developing rapidly and the relevant systems do not match, which will lead to chaos in the blockchain field, which requires standardized management and active guidance; It is a big loss, so it is necessary to strive for international discourse and dominance in the blockchain field, which is conducive to maintaining a leading position in my country's blockchain field; because it is necessary to promote the application and implementation of blockchain technology, unified standards make it easier to reach consensus in the field , to promote the joint application and development of blockchain technology in various industries.
