China Blockchain News: Everything To Know About National Blockchain Network BSN

When President Xi Jinping spoke fondly about blockchain and encouraged Chinese companies to "seize the opportunity" with the technology last year, the Blockchain Ser­vice Net­work (BSN) could be the project that will speed up the adoption of the distributed ledger technology in the country.

The nationwide blockchain network is supported by China's State Information Center (SIC), China Mobile, China UnionPay, and other institutions and is slated to launch in April this year. But what exactly is it, and what does it aim to accomplish?

According to a Chinese media report, Zhang Xueying, the deputy head of the SIC, BSN's objective is to develop smart cities through the provision of high-quality and customized services and help spur new businesses that are based on the blockchain technology.

It's an investment of China to propagate blockchain infrastructures in the country. Zhang also said that the network also lowers down the costs associated with creating blockchain applications.

As far back as March 2019, China already has more than 500 blockchain projects registered with its government, as CNBC reported back in December. BSN is one of those and was introduced in the same month before Mr. Xi's comments. BSN was touted to be the "Android or Apple's IOS system" for blockchain.

With the number of Chinese blockchain projects that span across different industries, BSN's role would fit in perfectly in connecting all of them under its network.

President of UnionPay Shi Wenchao said, "The blockchain service network is a basic service facility for cross-industry collaboration. Its construction has multiple meanings: one is to promote the development of the blockchain industry, the other is to create a demonstration of blockchain innovation applications, and the third is to stimulate the vitality of blockchain innovation."

What about crypto?

When it comes to cryptocurrencies, China does have a plan to mint its own crypto that will be a digital version of the yuan. However, this is seen as a move to overtake Libra, which the Chinese regard as a U.S. initiative, and make the RMB more accepted globally, according to Babel Finance CEO Flex Yang in an interview with Coindesk.