Chinese blockchain network goes international, raising security concerns

Blockchain-based Services Network (BSN), a project of a Chinese company with government funding, is planning to release an international version as Beijing considers the technology a core priority. .
BSN positions itself as a “one-stop shop” for deploying blockchain applications in the cloud, a process that is often time consuming and costly. This project has the aim of connecting different blockchains that can work together.

Chinese blockchain network raises security concerns
Red Date Technology, a start-up based in Hong Kong, is one of the founding members of BSN. Company CEO Yifan He said that BSN is planning to release an international version called BNS Spartan Network in August.

Blockchain is best known for Bitcoin but the definition of this technology has continuously expanded. It refers to a shared ledger operating system, capable of being public for all or private only for certain members to use and change. Bitcoin is an example of a public blockchain.

Meanwhile, the BSN blockchain network does not work with any cryptocurrencies, as the Chinese government has banned cryptocurrencies.

Proponents of the technology say that blockchain can reduce costs and speed up some business processes. Chinese President Xi Jinping also personally confirmed blockchain technology as a priority for the country.

The Spartan Network is practically made up of half a dozen public blockchains that don't work with cryptocurrencies. Among them is a non-crypto version of the Ethereum blockchain.

Transactions on the blockchain usually incur a fee, but He said fees will be charged in USD instead of Ethereum.

“The purpose of this is to keep the cost of using the public chain to a minimum so that traditional IT systems and business systems can use the public chain as part of the system,” He said.

“That is why we are working with other key public chain protocols to convince them that non-crypto public chains will be mainstream.”

Challenges

The CEO of Red Date Technology acknowledged that the technology's failure to work with cryptocurrencies was an initial challenge. He said the BSN Spartan Network will be “difficult to push forward in the first 1-2 years because most people in the blockchain industry only understand cryptocurrencies.”

In addition, being "involved" with the Chinese government will also cause BSN to almost certainly encounter close scrutiny by the international community. This project is supported by the State Information Center (SIC), under the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC). State-owned telecommunications company China Mobile is also a factor behind the project.

He thinks this will be "a huge challenge" when the project is deployed abroad.

"That's why we will immediately go public with the open source code when the project is released in August, and we will cooperate with many western companies."

He also said that users can check the project code themselves to make sure there is no "backdoor" for the Chinese government to access.