Under the epidemic, the blockchain is upward
On the one hand, the future of blockchain technology will be expanded in horizontal application scenarios. In some areas, the epidemic has changed blockchain technology from general needs to rigid needs; on the other hand, the epidemic has also promoted blockchain Fusion application of technology and other technologies.
Our reporter Lu Chengkuan
During the New Coronary Pneumonia epidemic, blockchain became a hard-core technology that helped prevent and control the epidemic.
Recently, the nation's first "blockchain + epidemic prevention and control" standard was officially released. According to incomplete statistics, as of now, about 20 blockchain-related applications that assist in epidemic prevention and control work have been launched. The types cover scenarios such as identity management, information confirmation, supply chain finance, and information collection confirmation.
So, what exactly does the blockchain do to support epidemic prevention and control and resume production? Why can blockchain technology play an important role during the outbreak? What are the challenges of blockchain technology in the future? To this end, a reporter from Science and Technology Daily interviewed relevant experts.
There is a set of rumors related to the epidemic
"In the scenarios related to the prevention and control of the new coronary pneumonia epidemic, blockchain applications can be divided into three categories, namely information management, emergency supplies and food safety traceability, and identity authentication management." Zhilian Wanyuan (Beijing) Digital Technology Co., Ltd. Dong Ning, CEO and Director of the Financial Technology Research Center of the New Generation Information Technology Research Institute of Peking University, told the Science and Technology Daily reporter.
Since the outbreak of the new coronary pneumonia, people have paid close attention to the progress of the epidemic and knowledge of epidemic prevention. However, some rumors, false knowledge, and even conspiracy theories related to the epidemic spread widely on the Internet, which not only confuses the audience, but also easily causes panic. In Dong Ning's view, part of the reason for this situation is to ensure that the information is true and accurate. Before the official information is released, it will be verified by multiple parties and checked at all levels, which leads to the fact that the truth is always too late.
"Suppressing the spread of these rumors and false information, blockchain technology is a powerful weapon. It can not only make the truth run faster, but also make fake news nowhere to escape. During the epidemic, Zhiyuan Wanyuan was online with information The launch war is a "epidemic" platform. "Dong Ning said that the distributed technology of the blockchain can help promote collaboration among multiple organizations. Many times before the official release of information, it must be verified with multiple departments and units, and the consensus of the blockchain The mechanism can help in rapid verification; at the same time, there is a technology called smart contract in the blockchain. If the process of public information release is placed in the smart contract, it can be automatically executed according to the process, which greatly improves the release efficiency; more important What's more, the blockchain can deposit information on the chain, and it is almost impossible to be tampered with, so that the information source and transmission path can be traced back, and accountability can be pursued according to the record of the deposit.
Speaking of emergency materials and food safety traceability, Dong Ning cited the case of blockchain technology to make material donations more transparent and credible. He said that in the past, blockchain has had many application cases in commodity traceability, supply chain, and logistics tracking. In this epidemic, there have been many charitable donation platforms based on blockchain technology. The technology has the characteristics of distributed, hard to tamper, and traceability. It can effectively solve the problems of low transparency and black box operation in traditional charity projects. The circulation data of each donation can be stored and solidified, which is convenient for regulatory agencies to trace. And regulation.
Relieve worries after resuming production
With the gradual improvement of the epidemic situation, all parts of the country proceeded in an orderly manner to resume production. The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology issued a notice on February 18th, deploying and applying a new generation of information technology to support epidemic prevention and control and corporate resumption of production. Encourage the application of blockchain and other technologies to epidemic prevention and control and resumption of production.
Subsequently, the China Unicom Research Institute, in cooperation with Jiangxi Unicom and Jiangxi Industrial Internet Branch, developed the country's first "blockchain-based enterprise resumption and production filing reporting platform", which resolved remote online filing, cross-city, cross-sector rapid synchronization and filing Problems such as data security and credibility can avoid the gathering of on-site personnel, improve the efficiency of filing, and worry about the government's resumption of work and production.
It is understood that this filing platform has 6 blockchain service nodes, adopts 256-bit encryption algorithm, has the advantages of distributed, high redundancy, high security, etc., makes full use of the non-tamperable characteristics of the blockchain, and records the enterprise Information and approval information are all kept on the chain, and multiple nodes such as enterprises, prevention and control headquarters, business authorities, and regulatory departments can simultaneously query records on the chain to ensure fairness, justice, and openness. Through the platform, enterprises can achieve one-click filing, and the competent department can approve one-click, and the supervisory department can view the statistics of various resumption of production and production in the province at any time, grasp the progress in real time, and meet the needs of rapid resumption.
Under the epidemic situation, the use of blockchain technology to empower supply chain finance can also play an active role in helping small and medium-sized enterprises to resume work and production. "Specifically, the use of blockchain technology can effectively solve the pain points of credit transmission and information fraud in the existing supply chain financial system, accelerate the revitalization of funds, improve service efficiency, and provide more financial support for SMEs in the supply chain. In order to ease the financial difficulties faced by some small and medium-sized enterprises in resuming production and production, "Dong Ning said.
During the epidemic, blockchain technology was successfully applied to the field of supply chain finance. On February 7, Beijing ’s blockchain-based supply chain debt and debt platform has been officially launched. This platform uses the underlying technology of the blockchain to realize the confirmation of the receivables of government and state-owned enterprise procurement contracts, and aggregate financing guarantees and asset management. And other financial resources to quickly provide a full range of supply chain financial services for SMEs.
Opportunities and challenges coexist
After the epidemic, what is the development direction of blockchain technology? Dong Ning said that blockchain may usher in many new development opportunities. On the one hand, the future of blockchain technology will be expanded in horizontal application scenarios, which is mainly due to the increase in people's attention to blockchain technology, and in certain areas, the epidemic has made blockchain technology from general Demand becomes rigid demand; on the other hand, the epidemic also promotes the integration of blockchain technology and other technologies, such as the future integration of 5G and blockchain technology.
Zhao Wei, director of the Blockchain Special Committee of the China Intellectual Property Development Alliance, also said that this epidemic crisis has brought opportunities to the blockchain. In the future, blockchain will play an important role in the field of epidemic prevention and control, public health, and public welfare. . Blockchain may play a fundamental role in building a national-level disaster prevention emergency command system, and this will also drive the rapid development of blockchain.
Crisis machines always coexist with each other. While ushering in opportunities, the future development of blockchain will also face challenges.
Wang Yuanfeng, deputy chairman of the China Development Strategy Research Association and professor of Beijing Jiaotong University, once pointed out that the development of blockchain faces three major challenges. The first is that the talent reserve is extremely inadequate. The report of the National Research Think Tank shows that talents with real blockchain development and related skills in China are very scarce, accounting for about 7% of the total demand. The possibility of using bias and wrong; in addition, the social impact of blockchain technology is not well understood. Blockchain is not just a technology, it may have a profound impact on the basic theories of politics, society and economics. The decentralization, openness and transparency of the blockchain network are completely based on rules, and the characteristics of no corruption are worthy of our consideration and attention.
In Dong Ning's view, the challenges facing the development of blockchain in the future are mainly focused on the in-depth application of the industry characteristics. In terms of industrial application of blockchain technology, large enterprises do more on universal platforms. The development of blockchains specifically designed for the characteristics of the industry is relatively lagging, and there is a gap between blockchain universal platforms and specific industry applications.