China and Australia deepen the blockchain links

A group of Australian blockchain start-ups, including Labrys, Beam and AgriDigital, are in Shanghai this week, on a commercial mission organized by Austrade and the Australian Digital Commerce Association.

Over the weekend, entrepreneurs completed a training camp run by members of the embassy, ​​including a session on how to protect their intellectual property. On Monday, they visited many of China's largest fintech companies, including Ant Financial's Shanghai headquarters, worth $ 211 billion ($ 211 billion) in Shanghai, Pudong District.

The Chinese fintech market dominates over all others. Ant operates the world's largest online and mobile payment platform, with 520 million users. He also invested in blockchain, devoting part of his $ US14 billion series C financing series to the new technology beginning of this year.

One example is the blockchain cross-border settlement service launched in June to manage the transfer fund between Hong Kong and the Philippines.

The delegation will hit the 4th Global Blockchain Summit in Wangxiang, which will be held in W Shanghai The Bund on Tuesday and Wednesday.

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Breathtaking experience

According to a delegate who attended the event last year, it will be an amazing experience for start-ups, revealing the ambition of the China to be a central player as the new "Internet of value" develops.

The Chinese government has repressed the bitcoin and the first offers of coins (ICO), but this does not mean that it wants to stifle investments in the underlying technology.

Coindesk's cryptocurrency news service reported extensively on Chinese blockchain pilots, including its central bank, which is apparently testing a blockchain commercial finance platform and has built a blockchain-based system that digitizes controls – allowing are monitored.

You might also consider the idea of ​​issuing your own digital currency using technology.

Legal approval

It seems that the judiciary is also getting on board; The first Chinese court in Hangzhou recently declared that evidence based on blockchain was legally admissible in a case of copyright infringement.

The parent company of Ant Financial, the Internet giant Alibaba, has made 90 patent applications focused on technologies related to the blockchain, according to a report in iPR Daily an IP commercial publication. Tencent and Ping An Insurance are also actively registering blockchain patents.

Some of these are on the market. Tencent piloted an app on its WeChat messaging service using blockchain to accelerate reimbursement of corporate employee expenses. Another giant of e-commerce, JD.com, has launched a "blockchain-as-a-service" platform to track corporate invoices.

With the exception of the ASX project to replace the CHESS clearing and settlement system with blockchain, many technology pilots in Australia are simply dipping their toes into the water.

Nonetheless, China is paying close attention to Australia's role by chairing the International Standards Organization (ISO) group (known as the 307 Technical Committee), which is developing standards for blockchain.

China sees Australia as a more reliable leader of this work than, for example, the United States or Russia, who also wanted to run this committee.

ISO / TC 307 President Craig Dunn will tell the Wangxiang Summit that Australia wants China to be closely involved in the standard setting.

Blockchain iron

C & # 39; is an irony in China that embraces the blockchain, given the technology initially designed to circumvent state control.

In his presentation, Dunn will mention several aspects of the blockchain that challenge Chinese political philosophy. "It can build trust where distrust of central authorities or institutions applies," he will say.

It can also protect property rights by creating immutable records, allowing citizens to "own, control and monetize their data" and offer greater privacy and control of personal data.

But the Chinese government – just like foreign regulators in many Western jurisdictions that are also exploring technology – is more likely to be interested in the blockchain's ability to create greater transparency around transactions, which will allow authorities to to conduct more detailed supervision and monitoring.

As The Economist recently put it: "Without their anonymity, distributed registries can be an advantage for regulators: they can provide visibility, for example on who owns what."

Blockchain R & D in China is also emerging as a geopolitical problem. "The Chinese authorities see blockchain technology as a potentially useful and disintermediation tool to advance their regional interests, especially in commerce," said Michael Casey, chairman of Coindesk's advisory committee, in an article prior to last year. . "We are working hard, for example, to incorporate smart contacts, tokens and other aspects of blockchain technology into supply chain management systems that improve information sharing and efficiency."