Cai Liang, executive deputy director of the Blockchain Research Center of Zhejiang University and dean of the Zhejiang Blockchain Technology Research Institute, said in an exclusive interview with a reporter from China Securities News that the current blockchain industry application field is further expanding and deepening, and the industry application value is beginning to highlight. As the blockchain initially meets application requirements, innovations in the underlying blockchain technologies such as software and hardware integration, network architecture, storage engines, and consensus protocols are on the agenda.
Cai Liang said that the development of my country's blockchain technology is still in the early stage of development, and it is necessary to intensify and solidly conduct research on the key technologies of the blockchain, and build a domestically-made independent and controllable alliance chain.
Faced with security challenges
Cai Liang said that blockchain is included in the category of "new infrastructure", and many ministries and localities have introduced blockchain promotion policies, and blockchain applications and industrial development have entered the fast lane.
Shi Denian, deputy chief engineer of the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology, said recently that the deployment of blockchain-related applications has been accelerated in many places, and basically all provinces have launched blockchain-related layouts. In the first half of 2020, the number of related policies issued by first-tier cities has increased significantly.
The regulatory framework of my country's blockchain has basically taken shape. Cai Liang introduced that my country's regulatory requirements for blockchains include real-name systems, filing systems, and setting up regulatory nodes. As of December 2020, the Central Cyberspace Administration has announced four batches of 1015 record numbers, and the blockchain application chain supervision system has launched the first batch of pilot access work.
Shi Denian said that with the development of blockchain applications, risks and challenges have gradually increased. "Security is the guarantee of the vitality of the blockchain in the future. How to build a security system around physics, data, application systems, etc. , is the main problem facing the blockchain. Among them, contract security and privacy protection are the two main focuses."
Cai Liang emphasized, “Blockchain is the underlying infrastructure for carrying high-value digital assets, and the security challenges it faces will be more severe than traditional Internet systems. Once there are defects , they can be easily used by criminals and cause serious economic losses.” In addition to network security, Cai Liang introduced that blockchain also faces challenges such as financial security. “China should build a blockchain collaborative supervision system that covers content supervision, industry supervision, and financial supervision. This is a healthy and feasible blockchain industry. The key to sustainable development."
Innovate the underlying technology
Cai Liang said that the current public chain is difficult to meet regulatory requirements, and the alliance chain is the main theme of my country's blockchain industry. Talking about the development trend of blockchain technology, Cai Liang believes that the core technology will transform from building a blockchain based on a traditional computing platform to a suitable underlying support technology for the blockchain.
"In the past, blockchains were built based on ready-made computing platforms, network protocols, database management systems, etc. in the Internet era, but after the blockchain platform can basically meet the current application needs , it is necessary to think about the most needed computing structure of the blockchain , What is the most suitable network protocol and what is the most suitable storage engine. This change of concept will greatly promote the innovation and development of the underlying technology of the blockchain." Cai Liang said.
In fact, the underlying support technology has already affected the performance and efficiency of blockchain applications. Taking the database as an example, the traditional database is a very "heavy" system, which solves general data query and processing , while the data storage of the blockchain is unconventional, and every transaction is arranged in order. There is a clear time stamp. If a dedicated blockchain storage engine is developed according to the characteristics of blockchain data storage, the data throughput capacity of the blockchain can be greatly improved.
In addition, Cai Liang said that blockchain applications also need to solve the "first mile" problem of data authenticity. "How to ensure the authenticity of the data source in the blockchain traceability application is the key . It is necessary to combine IOT technology to develop special modules for the blockchain and special chips for the blockchain, to upload the data in real time at the data generation end, to achieve reliable data collection Data authenticity is closed-loop. In fact, the industry already had similar attempts a year ago." Cai Liang said that the development of China's blockchain is still in the early stage of development, and it is necessary to intensify and do a solid job of research on the key technologies of the blockchain , and build a domestically-made independent and controllable alliance chain.
Shi Denian also pointed out that my country's blockchain projects are based on industry chain construction, and there are problems of repeated construction and difficulty in interoperability. The independent innovation of blockchain technology still needs a breakthrough to solve the problem of balancing the three factors of performance, security, and distribution.
Play application value
Aiming at the underlying technology of the blockchain, Cai Liang's research team launched a dedicated blockchain module a year ago and realized the application on some electrical equipment . "In this way, the raw data of this machine's operation is directly on the chain, and data such as when it is turned on and how many times it has been served can be witnessed by multiple parties."
Cai Liang gave an example: "A commercial shared washing machine in the school is used 10,000 times in three years. The washing price is about 2 yuan for 30 minutes for a quick washing program , 45 minutes for a standard wash for 4 yuan, and 60 minutes for a powerful wash for 6 yuan. The cost of electricity and water consumption is completely different, and the revenue sharing method may be different. Laundry operators, school logistics and other investors must obtain true and reliable data to ensure effective sharing. If only the store or school provides the data, It may not convince others . If the blockchain module is embedded in the machine, the data on how many times the machine has been turned on and how many times has been washed will be clear at a glance and cannot be tampered with, which is conducive to the sharing of benefits for all investment partners."
There are many similar application cases, including charging piles and other cases involving multi-party cooperation. Cai Liang emphasized , “Blockchain technology is suitable for application scenarios that require the participation and joint maintenance of multiple parties to enhance trust. The value of blockchain is not only technical innovation and subversion, but also organizational management brought by distributed trust mechanisms. Innovations such as models."