Original title: "Blockchain + Everything? Thoughts triggered by Tencent's "Small IOU", by Chen Lishan
Key Takeaways：
Tencent's new blockchain product "Small IOU" was reported, or involved in the Anti-Unfair Competition Law
"Small IOU": Directly hit the pain points of traditional IOUs, and the legal IOUs completed in one stop on the mini program
Successfully implemented evidence deposit: full-process data management, multi-party evidence deposit, business end to judicial end
Blockchain technology has risen to the national strategy, and its application has covered public services, real economy and financial fields
Contradictions brought about by blockchain innovation: technical property rights, network congestion, data sharing
Reduce energy consumption, improve information transmission efficiency, blockchain uses "trust" to promote the history of science and technology
Hot review:
On August 9, 2021, Tencent's new blockchain product "Small IOU" was reported by Zhongxin Rongxin (Beijing) Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Zhongxin Rongxin"). The "Loan Guarantee" product that was previously launched and removed from the shelves by Tencent is completely consistent in terms of business logic, core functions and processes.
In March 2020, Zhongxin Rongxin successfully developed the "Loan Guarantee" product, which is an Internet product specially developed for the preservation of personal loan evidence. Services including certificates, credit supervision, etc. Subsequently, Zhongxin Rongxin applied for "loan guarantee" to be put on the shelves of Tencent's "Rongxin Chain" applet, and submitted the product test account, business logic and service process to Tencent's review department. Shortly after obtaining the approval to launch the "Loan Loan Guarantee" mini program, Tencent refused to launch the product. On July 28, 2021, Tencent launched a similar product "Small IOU" in the "Tencent Electronic Signature" applet. Therefore, Zhongxin Rongxin has reported this incident to the Anti-Monopoly Bureau of the State Administration for Market Regulation and Anti-Unfair Competition. Bureau to report.
secondary title
1. Blockchain + IOU
"A: "You have to have a backbone, how can you kneel down to lend money to others? "
B: "It doesn't matter, if there is a loan, he will pay it back. At that time, he will kneel down and beg me to pay him back." "
After a smile, many people's hearts are extremely sad. I am most afraid of sudden concern from friends, because the clichéd process of borrowing money is often inseparable after greetings. From time to time, friends, roommates, or co-workers may need to turn over funds, but some of the money lent out will never come back. There have always been problems such as unsaved transfer records, irregular or missing IOUs, long recovery cycles, and many difficulties. The blockchain + IOU model provides a solution to this common pain point.
"Small IOU" is a C2C electronic contract product that provides Tencent Cloud's technical capabilities and "Zhixinchain" blockchain deposit service based on digital signature technology. According to the requirements of the current laws and regulations of our country, from the perspective of protecting the rights and interests of both borrowers and borrowers, we provide legal and compliant online signing services for personal loan contracts (IOUs).
creation process
Open the "Small IOU" of WeChat "Tencent Electronic Signature" and select "Create IOU".
Fill in the content of the IOU, including the basic information of both lenders such as name, mobile phone, and ID card; the terms of the loan such as the reason for the loan, loan funds, repayment method, term, and interest rate.
After the two parties complete the electronic handwritten signature and face verification, the legally effective IOU will come into effect. On the repayment date agreed by both parties, the platform will remind the repayment matters through SMS.
image description
secondary title
2. How to successfully implement the blockchain + "small IOU" model
Blockchain + IOU is a typical certificate deposit application. Ordinary evidence-based data is prone to tampering, lacks multi-party joint supervision, and is not sufficient as evidence to support legal practice. Blockchain + IOUs provide various "trust" solutions for the information Internet, save data through blockchain technology, connect multi-party business ends, and extend to the judicial end, building a trusted channel from electronic data to electronic evidence to achieve Trustworthy storage, secure transmission, and legal use of electronic data.
Full-process data storage and transmission technology. From the beginning of the electronic data life cycle, the electronic data of each node has a deposit certificate. The small IOU uses electronic signatures, fixes key data through time stamps, uses hash algorithms for consistency check value calculations, and technically encrypts data and transmission channels. The whole process realizes a non-tamperable and traceable data recording method.
Multi-party evidence storage methods are adopted to ensure the integrity and authenticity of the information stored. The "Zhixin Chain" of the small IOU is a credible certificate storage blockchain platform jointly built by Tencent, China Net Security, and Feng Tiao Li Shun. More than ten credible institutions from all walks of life have joined as nodes. Tencent's electronic signature stores the key electronic evidence in the signing process of the IOU, and uploads the hash value of the electronic evidence to the trusted blockchain service platform "Zhixinlian", allowing multiple parties to jointly manage it.
From the commercial end to the judicial end, Tencent's electronic signature is based on the digital certificate issued by the authoritative CA (certificate authority), combined with blockchain and other technologies, fully complies with the "Civil Code of the People's Republic of China" and "Electronic Signature of the People's Republic of China". Law and other legal provisions are applicable to authoritative institutions such as judicial appraisal, auditing, notarization, and arbitration recognized by the state, and the evidence on the chain can become an effective proof for users to implement civil legal acts.
In addition, the application of smart contracts improves the efficiency of the use of blockchain + IOUs. Traditional contracts are based on offline communication rules and manual execution afterwards, and are limited by geography, and their execution and punctuality are not as good as smart contracts.
Smart contracts have the advantages of automatic triggering, automatic execution, wide scope and low cost. Due to the pre-established rules, the smart contract can automatically judge the triggering conditions according to the pre-set rules, and enforce the program commands through the trusted code running environment supported by the blockchain. And the blockchain network has a wider range of links, which enables smart contracts to implement cross-regional, cross-provincial, and even transnational applications. The perfect contract system and operability process make the use of blockchain + IOU more convenient, which is conducive to attracting more participants to join.
It is worth noting that the blockchain + IOU is only the tip of the iceberg of blockchain landing projects. As blockchain technology rises to a national strategy and is included in the category of "new infrastructure", more innovation and development of blockchain technology and applications of blockchain technology will be implemented. At present, the application of blockchain + is still in the initial stage, but various industries have been integrated into this technology one after another, and blockchain + has begun.
The public service field includes smart cities, government services, medical health, cultural entertainment, evidence collection, etc.; the real economy includes supply chain management, product traceability, data circulation, etc.; the financial field includes digital finance, digital asset transactions, etc., and the market has emerged Everything can be blockchain + phenomenon. (Recommended reading "2021 Global Blockchain Innovation Application Demonstration Case Collection")
Swipe up and down to see more
Zhaorong—MT data value integration service platform
With blockchain and big data as the core, guided by the integration of data resources in the power industry, and relying on the support of core enterprises in the power industry, it provides data governance, data sharing, data value creation, and data value empowerment services.
Digitize the movable and real estate on the power resource line, trade and transfer to improve the efficiency of the entire power industry chain.
Put the operation, status, transaction, log and other data in the industrial chain on the chain, improve the credibility of the data between internal and external related enterprises in the industry, effectively integrate various power services, improve operational efficiency, and accelerate the construction of energy Internet.
Open up the data islands related to the power industry (such as finance, insurance, environment, etc.), realize data sharing, data fusion, and data circulation, thereby empowering the industry.
The platform has been applied to the State Grid Hunan Electric Power Digital Asset Service Platform, the State Grid Blockchain Smart City Waste Sorting Software Platform, the Urban Smart Management Software Platform, and the Urban Smart Management Blockchain System Integration Platform. It is estimated that the number of active users of the platform will reach 2,000 in 2022, providing data value integration services for 600 enterprises.
Antchain IP business platform
By applying technologies such as blockchain, AI, and data security, massive IPs can be uploaded to the chain, rights and prices can be confirmed on the chain, and payment is made according to volume. It not only supports IP copyright holders to confirm their rights efficiently and at low cost, and distributes copyrights more widely to reach more authorized parties, but also helps authorized parties lower the threshold for using genuine IP, which greatly improves the resource optimization of both IP suppliers. matching efficiency.
Genuine IP based on cryptography and privacy protection. Each IP product can have a digital identity recognized by the copyright owner. While providing the copyright owner with full-process genuine authorization control, it also provides businesses with tools to connect consumers and interact with marketing.
A distributed IP alliance based on multi-party consensus. Realize the structured management and multi-channel distribution of IP, and transform the IP licensing market from the original "wholesale" model to a "retail" model.
Blockchain-based transaction model. Through on-chain Token management and smart contract management of IP authorization transaction rules, the automatic liquidation share greatly reduces the uncertainty of merchants in terms of whether copyright procurement can recover costs.
On the AntChain IP commercial platform, the copyright fee is paid for the number of pieces sold, and the system will automatically liquidate the share through the blockchain smart contract. This model not only improves the efficiency of collaboration, but also helps stimulate the long-tail effect of the IP licensing market, making the "cake" of the entire market bigger and bigger.
Anhui Mobile "HeChain" supply chain financial platform
By linking the ERP system of the core enterprise (in this case, Anhui Mobile) and multiple banks, an online efficient and low-cost financing platform is built for upstream suppliers, and financing can be realized without leaving the house, effectively alleviating the financing of small and medium-sized enterprises difficult situation
Blockchain technology prevents fictitious assets from being uploaded to the chain, and ensures the authenticity of trade background information by directly connecting with core enterprise ERP. Provide continuous credible data support for subsequent enterprise supply chain relationship management and credit management.
In order to ensure the safe storage and transmission of industrial and financial data, the platform adopts the CFCA signature encryption of online documents throughout the process, reaching the bank-level security technology level to ensure the safe storage and transmission of industrial and financial data.
With the online model of the whole process, the authority verification of the core enterprise, the financing application of the supplier, and the credit granting and lending of the funder can all be integrated on the "Helian" platform to improve the level and efficiency of supply chain financial coordination.
At present, the Agricultural Bank of China and China CITIC Bank have been connected to the "Helian" platform. In the future, it is planned to increase the number of banking institutions connected to the platform to four, namely Shanghai Pudong Development Bank, China CITIC Bank, Agricultural Bank of China and Bank of Communications, to provide more financing behaviors. Scenario and interest rate selection, truly realize convenient, fast and low-cost supply chain finance.
secondary title
3. Innovation and Contradiction
Blockchain still has many shortcomings. But ironically, the dispute between Tencent and Zhongxin Rongxin shows that blockchain, a technology featuring confirmation of rights, also has certain rights confirmation problems. The underlying technologies such as product business logic, running code, test data and service process can be copied and applied, which is very unfavorable for the exploration of blockchain + application scenarios. Next, the application scenarios and service functions of blockchain+ developed by various industries need the support of property rights protection.
In addition, the existing commercial scale is a weight that the current blockchain cannot bear. The blockchain is still in the early stages of development, but the congestion of the blockchain has always been criticized. In order to accommodate the huge volume of today's business, the blockchain needs to cope with higher concurrency requirements. How to upgrade the tolerance, fault tolerance, and scalability of the blockchain is a problem that must be solved for the development of the blockchain + economy.
Blockchain claims to be able to transform information transfer into value transfer. However, the problem of intercommunication and sharing between chains still exists, and the problem of information islands has not been perfectly solved. The lack of top-level overall planning, differences in the underlying structure between chains, and differences in subjects, regions, and industries make it difficult for blockchain infrastructure to achieve data sharing on a larger scale.
secondary title
4. Energy and Information, Liberation and Aggression
Will blockchain be a successful technology? Wu Jun, former vice president of Tencent, said in "Global History of Science and Technology": The history of technological development revolves around the origin of the universe-energy. The history of human science and technology is essentially a history of continuous evolution with energy and information as the two main lines.
According to this view, the key factor in judging the success of a technology is whether the technology improves the efficiency of energy use or the efficiency of information transmission. In the two dimensions of energy and information, the blockchain is undoubtedly successful. Because the blockchain solves one of the most fundamental problems in the business world - trust.
"Trust is an effective lubricant for economic exchange, and much of the world's economic backwardness can be explained by a lack of mutual trust."
—The Limits of Organization (Kenneth Joseph Arrow)
Trust is the basis for consensus and the basis for commercial activities. The traditional trust mechanism relies on strict identity and information verification, requires various complicated procedures to deposit certificates, and relies on third-party endorsements, which makes the entire process complicated and time-consuming.
The "blockchain +" model solves the trust problem very well. The process of time stamp certification, digital signature, and chain storage makes the information authentic and effective; the process is jointly managed by the participants, and the open and transparent platform saves repeated verification. cost; information extraction is effective and can be used as legal evidence; this high-trust mechanism makes it possible for the blockchain to become a low-cost, high-efficiency new collaboration model, achieving breakthroughs in both energy and information.
"It was the best of times and it was the worst of times"
— A Tale of Two Cities (Charles John Huffam Dickens)
We are in the best era, because we enjoy the good life accumulated in thousands of years of human development. Technology has liberated people from farming, from mechanical operations in industry, and created a virtual, interconnected mode of life. This process is arduous, and it also makes us in today's unique high-tech era.
But at the same time, this is also the worst era, because the changes brought about by technology are subversive, aggressive and qualitative. Technology is subversive. Today's technologies such as artificial intelligence and digital currency subvert and penetrate our lives with unprecedented momentum and intensity. Compared with a few years ago, the way of basic necessities of life is very different; After the rise of China, regardless of age, region, or cultural differences, QR codes have become a necessity of life. This kind of change cannot be discussed or rejected, and can only be "forced" to accept; technology is also a qualitative change. Starting from the quantitative change, a certain technology suddenly breaks in one day, occupying and replacing it with lightning speed. Before the previous technology is familiar, the next one will follow. Therefore, I have always been in awe of technology, and constantly accepting and learning new technologies is the only way out.
