China’s first national standard for blockchain could be released next year and a draft is now in the process of being submitted for approval, an official said earlier this week at an event in the western province of Sichuan, according to a report from local media Chuanguan, run by state-owned Sichuan Daily.
Fast facts
- Li Ming, director of the blockchain research office at the China Electronics Standardization Institute, an agency under the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, said the office is participating in developing a national standard for blockchain technology, which is likely to be released next year, according to the report. Li said a standard is fundamental to an industry, and just as with WiFi and Bluetooth, they need to meet certain standards to connect to a network, he added.
- Li said it’s necessary to study the technical, application and industry aspects of the technology to figure out the entities subject to the standardization as well as the relevant range.
- Li added the office will develop an evaluation mechanism to build an effective ecosystem based on the standard.
- While China is trying harder than ever to stomp the cryptocurrency industry out of existence, national and provincial authorities are looking for new ways to grow blockchain, its underlying technology.
- Earlier this month, the Central Cyberspace Affairs Commission and 17 other central agencies — including banking, education, prosecutorial, legal, health, energy and foreign exchange authorities — jointly issued a notice to urge local government entities across various industries to submit proposals for blockchain pilot projects to explore more usage scenarios for the new technology.
- Meanwhile, China is actively pushing ahead with the development of its Blockchain-based Service Network (BSN) — a public-private nationwide infrastructure project to spur mass adoption of blockchain technology — as well as what appears to be a soft rollout of the country’s digital currency — the digital yuan, or e-CNY.
