On April 25, 2020, BSN (Blockchain-based Service Network) which lead by China government launched its commercial version for the local website and beta version for the global website.
The project is leading by China State Information Center. Funding members China Mobile, China UnionPay, and Red Date Tech managed the network. In addition, Red Date Tech is operating its official websites. ( more informations)
Will Support Public Chain
As we know, China starts to ban cryptocurrency from September 4, 2017. The BSN support the main consortium blockchain in Mainland China. However, informed by the white paper, the BSN will also support the public chain include EOS and Ethereum. Developers can deploy their chain codes on public chains depend on the regulation in different areas.
Advantages
There are some advantages of BSN.
- Easy to build – Don’t need to operate nodes by yourself, developers without blockchain knowledge can make applications through gateway APIs. The platform provides build-in chain codes for developers to get started.
- Low cost – Projects share hardware resources, cost one third to one fifth with traditional cost.
- Cross-chain – The BSN will integrate with different chains, developers can retrieve data through a city node gateway.
Disadvantages
However, there are also some disadvantages.
- No flexibility – You can only use frameworks with versions that provide on the network. You can’t use some plugin features to change consensus mechanics and others.
- You can’t migrate database – You can only make your application to copy your data to another place.
- No online debugging – You can update chain code on the network, but can’t debug online directly.
For the global beta version, developers can deploy their chain code with 3 city nodes for free, the beta version will be tested till June 25, 2020.
Now there are only two framework can be used, Fabric-1.4.3-secp256r1 and FISCO-2.4.0-sm2.
Blockchain Control By China?
Besides the BSN project, there are also other active issues – the Central Bank Digital Currency in China (DC/EP). There are inner test in some cities. There are some concerns about government coKey Non-hosting Modentrol in these projects. For DC/EP, the government may able to check all transaction data and ban an account.
For BSN projects, you can choose a key hosting mode or key non-hosting mode. Developers have a concern about the issues above may use the key non-hosting mode. However, the network operator can control the nodes.
People are waiting the time BSN support the public chain, to see how China balances between openness and constable.
Read More
China National Blockchain BSN Will Be Public around April 15
Introduction to Hyperledger Blockchain Technologies