What are China’s ambitions for a domestic and global digital infrastructure based on blockchain given that it invested billions in its “belt and road” infrastructure network to boost trade?
China’s Blockchain-based Service Network (BSN), a state-backed consortium tasked with developing a domestic digital infrastructure, wishes to expand internationally. Still, some experts believe that BSN’s connections to Beijing could present difficulties abroad due to worries about data security and privacy.
BSN advertises itself as a global infrastructure network that offers a one-stop shop for blockchain and distributed ledger technologies and decentralized apps in a user manual for prospective clients (DApps).
According to the documentation, BSN does provide programming, software development, and other services, but it does not construct blockchains itself. It has said that its goal is to create a worldwide network that would enable communication across various blockchains, increasing productivity and lowering costs for users.
But in order to expand internationally, BSN will need to persuade potential customers from other countries that the company is not under the control of the Chinese government, that data is secure, and that transactions won’t be subject to censorship, according to Zennon Kapron, the founder of the fintech consultancy Kapronasia.
They will need to successfully answer queries of such nature, according to Kapron.
Beijing hired Red Date Technology Ltd. of Hong Kong to design and construct China’s domestic blockchain infrastructure, which is how BSN Spartan was created.
Red Date, which the firm estimated to employ 200 people, established a reputation in China by assisting in creating so-called “smart cities.” BSN’s everyday operations, maintenance, and R&D are handled by it, according to the WHUB startup website in Hong Kong.
Yaya Fanusie, an adjunct senior scholar at the Washington-based think tank Center for a New American Security and a former Central Intelligence Agency analyst, said to Forkast, “I would highlight the idea that BSN is going to be challenged by its image.
The National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), which formulates and implements China’s national economic policies, is one of BSN’s many ardent supporters. According to the website of the commission, the NDRC also carries out the development and reform-related policies and decisions of the CPC Central Committee.
Other BSN partners include China Mobile Communications Group, the largest state-owned telecommunications provider in the nation, and China UnionPay, a state-owned provider of financial services.
