Kiev: China’s
Central Bank launched its own blockchain platform for financial procedures in a
test mode.
The first
stage of testing
took place in Shenzhen in the south of the country. After the final
check, regulators will introduce the Bay Area Trade platform in the banks'
operation, and representatives of small and medium-sized businesses will be
able to use it as well. The developers expect that the blockchain solution will
improve the efficiency of bank-to-bank operations and expand the tools of
private entrepreneurs. For instance, businessmen will be able to quickly
transfer data using a decentralized network and receive securities backed by
assets.
The name of the platform resonates with the name of the
Chinese economic development zone along the Pearl River where large cities and
administrative areas of Hong Kong and Macao are located. Recently, the
government of Hong Kong has announced its plans to attract blockchain
specialists to work in the district.
Apart from
the country's main bank, other influential financial institutions such as Bank
of Communications, China Merchants Bank, and Standard Chartered, the British
transnational bank, participated in the development of the project.
Local regulators hope that the transparency of financial
transactions on blockchain and the data publicity, guaranteed by the technology,
will allow monitoring risks closely and fighting fraud.