China will release a national blockchain standard in 2022

The China Electronics Standardization Institute, the Chinese technology standardization body, has drafted a standard and is in the process of approving it, as explained by Li Ming, director of the Blockchain Research Office at the standardization body. China is trying to increase blockchain innovation and application in businesses and government across the country while cracking down on cryptocurrencies. Its latest five-year plan, a planning document outlining development goals, puts blockchain on par with artificial intelligence, big data and cloud computing.

Photo credit - depositphotos .com Li ha said that standards are fundamental to an industry and led the example of WiFi or Bluetooth; without a unified standard, devices from different manufacturers would not be able to connect to the network. Once the standard is set, the body will examine the drafting of evaluation criteria around it, so that a "benign" ecosystem can be created, the director said.

Key government projects such as Blockchain Services Network and Xinghuo Chain follow an “open permissioned” protocol, which seeks to retain some of the benefits of decentralization while maintaining centralized control. The export of blockchain and Chinese product standards is also the goal of these projects: last year, for example, the International Telecommunication Union approved a series of blockchain standards for financial applications developed by the People's Bank of China, from the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology and from Huawei.