Recently, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and the Office of the Central Cyber ​​Security and Informatization Commission jointly issued the "Guiding Opinions on Accelerating the Promotion of Blockchain Technology Application and Industrial Development" (hereinafter referred to as the "Guiding Opinions"), clarifying the next 5 years and 10 The specific goal of the scale of the blockchain industry in 2015, and the focus of industrial breakthroughs will be directed to the real economy and public services.

In recent years, as the blockchain has gradually risen to the national strategic level, relevant promotion policies of the central and local governments at all levels have sprung up, and the enthusiasm for industrial development is high. In the opinion of industry experts, the significance of the release of the "Guiding Opinions" is extraordinary, which means that the top-level design for the development of my country's blockchain industry has been basically completed. Under the policy spring breeze, which industries will enjoy dividends, can blockchain break the dilemma of "high enthusiasm and difficulty in landing" and usher in a real "spring"?

Rapid development coexists with difficulty in landing

In October 2019, in the eighteenth collective study of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee, the state took blockchain technology as an important breakthrough for independent innovation, and it was clear that it must accelerate the development of blockchain technology and industrial innovation; in April 2020, the country’s development and The Reform Commission included blockchain technology in the scope of new infrastructure. Since then, various national ministries and commissions have actively introduced relevant policies. According to statistics, in 2020, the national ministries, provincial governments, and provincial capitals issued policies, regulations, plans, and plans related to blockchain technology. There are more than 200 documents.

Under the encouragement and drive of policies, the main players participating in the blockchain industry have blossomed. Tech giants, state-owned enterprises, and innovative and entrepreneurial enterprises have continuously emerged, and they have actively explored pilot applications. According to statistics from CCID Blockchain Research Institute, as of now, there are more than 1,350 blockchain companies in my country with actual input and output, and enterprise segmentation services cover underlying technology research and development, industry applications, industry promotion, blockchain media, and districts. Blockchain security services, solutions, App applications and other fields. IDC data shows that the scale of my country's blockchain industry in 2020 has reached 561 million U.S. dollars.

"In recent years, the pace of development of my country's blockchain industry has accelerated, but the difficulties in industrial development such as the difficulty of realizing the scene are also particularly prominent." Liu Quan, Dean of CCID Blockchain Research Institute, pointed out in an interview with a reporter from China Electronics News.

According to Liu Quan, looking at the global blockchain core technology development status, my country has always lacked internationally recognized original technologies, especially in terms of basic core technologies such as consensus algorithms and smart contracts, which are highly dependent. In addition, the lack of common underlying platform technology, imperfect performance, and insufficient compatibility make most of the application scenarios that can be integrated with the blockchain are still in the embryonic period. The depth of the integration of the blockchain and the physical industry is not enough, and these pain points are all It is a constraint factor hindering the implementation of my country's blockchain scene.

Blockchain technology is still a new technology, and it is not omnipotent. It needs a rational view of its development logic and application value.

Zhang Yihui, director of the Trusted Blockchain Promotion Program Office of the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology, told the reporter of China Electronics News that the blockchain has the value potential of the next generation of "Internet", and its digital infrastructure and underlying laying are similar to the logic of the Internet. Blockchain needs to fit specific scenarios (such as scenarios that require multiple parties and lack trust) in order to function better. These scenarios put high requirements on the data sample size and upload timeliness, but the blockchain technology is not yet mature in terms of security and performance. In addition, many applications are still indulging in traditional management models. How can the application side break the traditional business logic, balance the relationship between the parties, and achieve multi-party governance. It is more the work of the alliance governance level, and data needs to be incorporated into production factors. Framework, achieve the unification of standards, and form a higher value closed loop.

Timeline and roadmap to be clarified

Based on the development status of China's blockchain industry, the "Guiding Opinions" clarified the development goals under the five basic principles of application traction, innovation drive, ecological cultivation, multi-party coordination, and safety and order. It is planned that by 2025, the blockchain industry The comprehensive strength has reached the world's advanced level, and the industry has begun to take shape. It will cultivate 3 to 5 internationally competitive backbone enterprises and a group of innovative leading enterprises, and create 3 to 5 blockchain industry development clusters and a blockchain standard system Initial establishment; by 2030, the comprehensive strength of the blockchain industry will continue to increase, the scale of the industry will be further expanded, the blockchain will be deeply integrated with the Internet, big data, artificial intelligence and other new-generation information technologies to achieve universal application in various fields and cultivate several With internationally leading enterprises and industrial clusters, the industrial ecosystem tends to be perfect.

In Liu Quan's view, the release of the "Guiding Opinions" is of great significance, which means that the country's top-level design for the development of the blockchain industry is gradually improving. The "Guiding Opinions" is the first time that the country has formulated a clear development roadmap and timetable for the blockchain industry. "The '14th Five-Year Plan' period will be five years for the great development and prosperity of the digital economy, and also five years for the acceleration of blockchain innovation, ecological construction, widespread implementation, and supervision. The "Guiding Opinions" will further promote the development of blockchain technology. Value changes in the era of the Internet of Everything with data as the element." Liu Quan said.

In addition to determining the development roadmap, blockchain development also has clear goals and safeguards. Chen Xiaohua, chairman and chief digital economist of the Blockchain Professional Committee of China Mobile Communications Federation, said that the "Guiding Opinions" proposed to cultivate a group of "famous products, famous enterprises, and famous parks", which clarified the specifics for the development of the entire blockchain ecosystem. The goal is conducive to the integrated development of industries, enterprises, and governments from all dimensions. It also provides support for the implementation of local government policies, how blockchain companies can closely follow national policies, and the development and positioning of blockchain industry parks.

Through the observation of the underlying technology of my country's blockchain, it is not difficult to find that compared with the advanced technology of blockchain in Europe and the United States, my country still has a certain gap. "Blockchain technology originated from the public chain, and the underlying platform of some alliance chains is an improvement on foreign public chain technology." Zhang Yihui said that the key tasks of the "Guiding Opinions" emphasized the establishment of an open source ecosystem, which is what my country does. An important measure to meet the needs of technological development and provide a good way for technological innovation. The advanced experience of foreign blockchain technology partly relies on the open source community, because the open source ecology can attract developers, help the underlying code and general capabilities to be copied and borrowed, and form a virtuous circle system. Therefore, my country can also consider establishing an open source community and building technology. Upgrade the iterative environment to realize a complete line on the chain and form an international industrial ecology.

Two major fields are expected to usher in a "landing wave"

The biggest application value of blockchain technology lies in improving the efficiency and safety of some industries, and also in subverting the traditional application tools of some industries. The blockchain-based industrial Internet platform, through consensus mechanisms and smart contract technology, will achieve mutual governance and win-win across companies of the same level and across the upstream and downstream of the industrial chain, and will create a more viable and collaborative and innovative digital industry ecosystem .

The real economy and public services are vital to the global digital development and the improvement of industry operation efficiency. They are related to the national governance system and governance modernization, and are the two most beneficial supports for economic and social development. Yu Jianing, the rotating chairman of the Blockchain Committee of the China Communications Industry Association, believes that only in-depth industrial integration with the real economy can effectively serve the main line of supply-side structural reform and promote the formation of a virtuous circle of finance and the real economy. The value and power of chain technology can be revealed.

"The release of this new policy provides meso-level supporting facilities for the top-level design of the blockchain, and this meso-level refers to the two major industry applications of the'real economy and public services'." Ministry of Commerce CECBC Blockchain Wu Tong, deputy director of the special committee, told reporters of China Electronics News. Previously, my country's blockchain has been relatively complete in terms of the macro policy environment, but the focus on key areas has always been to be improved. The release of the new policy will be at the meso-industry level, focusing on two major application areas, and formulating some implementation rules and industry regulations, which will open up the bridge between the macro policy level and the micro technical level, so that the development of blockchain will be targeted.

In recent years, my country has accumulated many favorable conditions in promoting the integration of blockchain with the real economy and public services. At present, many pilot applications of blockchain are mostly concentrated in these two areas, such as supply chain management, product traceability, government services, evidence collection, etc., and the adaptive scenarios of blockchain itself are also here. Taking the application of evidence collection as an example, Internet courts in Hangzhou, Beijing and other places have used blockchain technology for judicial deposit. Pilot applications for mutual recognition of medical insurance and mutual recognition of real estate have also been carried out and have achieved good results.

"The support of the new policy will bring the direct supervision of funds and data to the central government, speed up the process of integrating data into the production factor framework, and open up the value and realization channels, and the integrated application of blockchain and public services is expected to form a large-scale landing. "Wu Tong said.

In the real economy, the most popular application is supply chain finance. There are specific projects in the subdivisions of supply chain finance, trade finance, payment and settlement, and capital management. Data shows that as of November 2020, among the domestic registered blockchain information services, the number of projects in the financial sector ranks first, accounting for up to 36%. In addition to finance, the attention of digital assets, corporate services, medical care, power energy, agriculture and other industries is gradually increasing. This is in line with the overall goal of the 10-year plan for the blockchain industry in the "Guiding Opinions", which is to apply to the real economy. tilt.

"The "Guiding Opinions" will be a powerful driving force for the development of the blockchain industry for some time to come. Under the incentive of policies, blockchain technology is starting from point to point, and piloting applications with better results from the two major industries Start with, and gradually open up a series of "highways." However, to develop from independent highways into a connected urban transportation network, blockchain and AI, cloud computing, big data, Internet of Things and other emerging technologies are also needed. Technology is highly coupled, mutually infiltrated, integrated and developed." Zhang Yihui said.