background
These days, with the content of the speech Politburo internal study published block chain once again become the focus of the public, not only quickly boarded the major media headlines, the downturn has been driven Bitcoin rose by 40 %, but also contributed to pulling the a-share block chain related stocks in the market. One night, the block chain as if they stood in the strongest outlet.
In fact, as early as 2015, with the hot Bitcoin, block chains have glory, but in addition to conditions outside the financial sector essentially barbaric growth. This time, however, block chain technology has been specifically mentioned in the Politburo learning, but also aspects of the theory, basic, applied and human resources points out the development direction. So, he mentioned the country's core technology is highly block chain in the end what can be achieved?
Block chain introduced
What is the block chain
In answering this before, let's take a look at what is the block chain. According to Wikipedia, the block chain is by means of cryptography to protect content and to link up the record set (also known as blocks). Each block comprises one block of the previous cryptographic hash, and the corresponding time stamp the transaction data (typically using Merkel Merkle tree algorithm hash tree shown), this design makes difficult to tamper with the contents of the block characteristic. Block chain technology using the concatenated distributed the books to make effective two-party transaction records, and permanently examine this transaction.
Bits currency, for example, a schematic block chain as follows:
Excerpt: HTTPS: //commons.wikimedia.org ...
It can be seen that a block chain not only increase and distort history books distributed, each block is done by increasing certain consensus mechanism, e.g. Bitcoin uses PoW, i.e. the verification miners , package deal to compete by solving math problems written into a new block, in theory, only 51% considered mastered the power of the whole network in order to form an effective attack. Although different block chain consensus born of different mechanisms, but the core is to solve the problem of how to ensure the trust (such as the right to do, double flowers) in a decentralized premise. From the current point of view, the majority consensus mechanism is very effective.
Form block chain
According to the characteristics of the consensus mechanism, the block chain can be divided into three types:
- Public chain: i.e. bit credits, and other forms of digital money Square ether used, anyone can participate billing, completely to the center, check books publicly available. This chain for their own safety needs some incentive to ensure that a sufficient number of participants, but with the rise of "currency speculation" behavior, lack of supervision, leading to volatility in value of its own, it is difficult to really solve these problems before forming a formal business applications;
- Private chain: This chain can only be applied by all of, or in fact a product of single centralized organization within the organization. Scenarios in this way is very rare, unless the organization sufficiently complex, inefficient and lack of trust in the interaction between departments;
- Alliance Chain: weak central form, accounting people formed by a coalition negotiation, the books are shared only within the Union. In this way there is no absolute center, a certain consensus basis by binding alliance, reduce transaction costs improve efficiency by sharing books the way. Personally I think that in the case of the problem of data privacy protection, the Union is the block chain shine chain form, so this alliance are the following chain based discussions.
Block chain applications
The birth of the first block chain to serve the Bitcoin, but its own has the public can not be tampered with, traceability and other characteristics, especially with the introduction of smart computing power contract on the block chain, each coming in a participatory kinds of social and economic activities, in particular the right to do all kinds, as evidence, traceability and audit and other aspects will have a very wide range of applications.
financial
Because the characteristics of the block chain itself, making the financial industry first attention to the value chain of the block, and make a lot of meaningful practice.
Cross-border payments, remittances
Ripple is a pioneer in the practice of cross-border transfers based block chain, the principle is xCurrent settlement system based on the use of ILP protocol (Interledger Protocol), through the establishment of an existing bank account and distributed books ILP mapping, achieved through inter-bank Ripple network quickly liquidated. Its business model is as follows:
From "binding block chain and a stable currency cross-border payment solutions."
大致流程为付款人提出向境外支付，汇出行首先通过xCurrent交换KYC/AML 信息、汇款金额、手续费等信息确认；然后分别在Ripple Net上广播交易，当交易确认达成共识后，A、B银行根据其ILP账本流动性的变化分别对收、汇款人对应的实际账户进行增减操作，从而达到实时、低成本的跨境汇款的目的。目前Ripple公司只专注于Ripple Net的建设，通过统一的API简化接入，利用XRP打造更快速、低廉和稳定的支付网络。
目前除了Ripple以外，支付宝香港版AlipayHK已上线基于电子钱包的区块链跨境汇款服务，其用户可以通过区块链技术给菲律宾用户转账；Visa于2017年推出了Visa B2B Connect，一种基于区块链打造的快速、安全以及可预测的跨境支付系统；万事达也于2017年在开发者平台对外开放了基于区块链的API。
股票交易
以美国现金股票市场为例，在交易的买方客户、经纪交易商、信托/托管银行和美国存管信托和结算公司（DTCC）之间涉及大量的重复性的人工确认和对账流程，导致一笔交易不到1秒就完成，但是需要2天时间进行结算。因此如果引入区块链，预期可以大幅减少、消除交易错误，减少人工干预，据测算每年至少可以减少20亿美元；同时缩短了结算时间，也降低交易风险和减少经纪人/交易商需要为未结算、未偿交易准备的资金量。
截至目前，全世界已有多家交易所在区块链技术上进行了尝试，美国存管信托和结算公司加入由Linux基金会推出的超级账本项目（Hyper Ledger），并发表白皮书《拥抱颠覆：开发分布式总账的潜力，改善交易后环境》；德国复兴信贷等多家银行利用区块链进行了多项业务测试，如复兴信贷银行主要研究发行基于分布式账本技术的欧元商业票据，以实现商业交易流程的自动化，同时开展基于区块链的证券发行和交易的测试，证明了区块链具有明显的优势；澳大利亚证券交易所宣布将采用分布式账本技术提供股票交易后服务，取代其现有的交易后结算系统CHESS。截至2017年11月，该区块链系统已完成历时两年的概念验证及适用性测试，据预估，在股票交易后市场应用后，将会为交易所、监管者、参与者、托管人等参与方每年节省40-50亿美元。
数字货币？
今年脸书公布了将要推出基于区块链的Libra计划，目标成为一种可在全世界流通的稳定、安全的数字货币，并以此为基础提供方便、快捷、廉价的支付工具。Libra通过锚定一篮子货币确保币值稳定，从这个层面上可以看出其并非真正意义上的货币，与支付宝、微信等没有本质的区别。目前，Libra经历了多轮听证后仍未打消美国监管部门的疑虑，10月来Paypal、Ebay、Visa又纷纷退出阵营，目测Libra的前景可以说十分不明朗。
虽然Libra的发展还未可知，但无疑会进一步刺激各国在主权数字货币方面的进展。当前全球范围包括我国在内有 32 个国家提出了将本国货币数字化的计划，这当中可以说我国是走在前列的，早在2014年我国就启动了相关的研究工作。而到了今年，仅央行就多次提及“数字人民币”，预估应该是进展到了一定阶段，并且会加速相关的工作。
就目前透露出的消息来看，我国是将数字货币定位为现钞的替代品，发行体系不变，在保留人民币的属性外，不仅具有便捷、防伪、成本低等特点，在反洗钱、反逃税等方面也极具优势。数字人民币在底层的技术支撑上是否使用区块链，目前不得而知，但从流传出的中心化管理、以及至少支撑30万笔/每秒的交易量等技术要求来看，至少目前的区块链技术还难以满足要求。
房地产
房地产所具有的不动产属性也是一个与区块链形成很好的结合点的领域，特别是结合了智能合约的应用，将会极大的节约房地产（特别是跨境）交易中的成本，降低相应风险，同时也会为相关的投融资方面带来极大的便利。
Propy 便是一家基于区块链的全球性的房地产交易平台，其以支持智能合约的以太坊为区块链支持，为外国及本地买家在线买卖物业提供支持，通过邀请交易、签署协议、付款、发送报告、披露、确认结算声明、房产契约转移等步骤，在区块链上完成交易并形成契约。而且该项目已与美国南伯灵顿市政府办公室合作，实现产权文档与区块链互通，并获得一定的立法支持。虽然该项目依托以太坊，其安全性和稳定性还值得进一步观察，但在房屋交易领域是一次非常有意义的尝试。在我国，这一领域起步较晚，专注数量也比较少，多数以政府主导推动，且基本处于概念验证阶段。
不过相信随着区块链上技术升到国家核心技术的高度，必将会涌现出基于区块链的优质应用。试想一下，未来的房地产从土地、图纸设计、开发施工、建材、房屋交易、维修记录、租赁记录、抵押记录，甚至发生的重大事件都记录在一条可查询不可篡改的区块链上，这将极大的增加信息的透明度，减少“黑中介”的操作空间，同时也能极大减少交易双方的财务成本和时间成本。
安全审计
当前，多方数据的融合已经成为企业提升竞争力、效率的迫切需求，而随着隐私保护相关的法律法规的建立健全，不仅要求在数据使用过程中合法合规，而且也需要对使用过程进行记录，以便在出现问题时的追责。可以看出，区块链天然适合承担对数据使用过程进行审计日志的任务。
TalkingData在数据安全共享和区块链的探索中也进行了一些尝试，并与MIT合作展开了一个数据共享安全项目—OPAL（Open Algorithms）开放算法库，其核心思想是将公开的经过安全审查的算法移动到数据源，计算过程中原始数据不离开数据源，使用方最终只拿到聚合结果而不会看到原始数据。算法的审查和不移动数据确保不会泄露受保护的数据。
OPAL的具体流程是，首先算法提供方根据数据提供方公布的数据元数据信息设计算法，算法完成后提交给数据提供方；数据提供方审核并验证算法，确保算法不泄露原始数据或隐私，通过后保存到算法库；数据使用方每次使用时，向数据提供方提交申请，指定具体算法和数据源；数据提供方执行算法，对计算结果进行自动化的安全审计，最终将结果输出给使用方。
如前所述，区块链在OPAL中承担审计的工作，由数据提供方、算法提供方以及使用方共同参与。一方面当算法通过安全审核后会发布到区块链上防止被篡改；另一方面数据使用请求、计算结果的指纹等信息，也会以审计数据的形式发布到区块链上，而这一过程将会通过智能合约的方式自动执行，从而也能确保各方的利益。
其他领域
随着5G、物联网等技术的成熟和普及，在供应链管理、产品溯源、医疗健康、数字资产交易、版权保护、公益事业等领域，区块链的应用场景也会越来越贴近实际。
跨领域应用
在大数据时代，数据孤岛的存在严重制约了大数据所产生的价值，未来数据一定会在法律、政策允许的框架通过技术实现融合。同样的，相信不远的将来，当单一区块链成熟后，结合跨链协议形成多链融合的场景一定会出现，而且也只有这样才能真正发挥区块链的优势，服务我们的日常生产、生活。
带动相关领域发展
未来我国区块链应用的发展将聚焦在探索“区块链+”在民生领域的运用，探索数字经济模式创新，推动区块链和实体经济深度融合，推动区块链底层技术服务和新型智慧城市建设相结合等方面，因此国家也必将推出一系列政策、法规来规范指引区块链的发展，同时也会建设相应的基础设施助力区块链应用的落地。相应的，随着区块链技术的不断发展，也必将会带动其他领域的发展，最后形成互相促进、协同发展的局面。
数字ID颁发
区块链本身是具有非常好的匿名性的，参与各方仅拥有一串数字标识，但随着相关应用的落地，必然会要求和外部物理世界中的个体形成某种联系，而区块链上的信息是公开的，随着应用的深入，个体的隐私数据保护将会面对严重的挑战；在将来跨链融合的场景中，同一个个体在不同区块链上的数字标识如何形成关联也是影响跨链融合应用成败的关键因素。
因此需要国家立法并建立具有权威性的电子身份标识系统，可能是类似eID的形式，为其他区块链颁发不同的数字标识，在区块链应用中充当身份认证以及标识关联的作用。
法律法规，技术标准
当前多数区块链应用处于概念验证或者难于推广的窘境，原因之一就是缺乏法律的支持（如确权的问题），同时也有缺乏规范指引的因素，因此需要国家出台相应的法律法规明确什么可以做、什么不可以做。
区块链是资产价值流动的载体，在行业应用中处于基础设施的地位，因此也需要行业主管部门或者行业协会发挥指导和协调的作用，在整个行业范围内形成有影响力且兼顾多方利益的技术标准和应用准则。只有这样才能避免资源浪费、无效竞争，同时也有利于全体社会力量的参与，加速行业应用落地。
基础研究
区块链本身是一系列成熟技术的应用创新，在十年的发展中，鲜有实质性的技术突破，未来这种局面将会随着国家的重视程度的提高而逐步被打破。相信在数学、密码学、经济学、通信等基础理论研究中，会随着应用的发展而有一定爆发。因为这些技术是组成区块链的基础，而现有技术基础还制约着区块链向应用渗透。只有在这些领域形成突破，才有可能真正实现区块链技术的创新。
Also worth mentioning is that, with the emergence of attacks against digital wallet, intelligent contracts in the field of security also requires appropriate technical breakthroughs need to establish a new security model, to ensure the safety block chain applications.
Machine learning, distributed computing, hardware
With 5G, in-depth development of things, as well as the growing popularity of machine learning, and a block chain also will realize the depth of integration of these technologies. Block chain network in the future there will be a lot of intelligent hardware, a variety of complex business logic AI will even run in the form of a smart contract on the hardware, which is different from the traditional data center relies on high-performance computing, powerful storage capacity and a stable energy supply environment, it also tends to stimulate machine learning, distributed computing and other areas of innovation; while in turn will promote the underlying hardware, a dedicated computing chip, security chip research and development.
Talented person
Innovative technologies in the field of the above-mentioned people can not be separated, so there will be great progress in terms of personnel training and education.
Conclusion
The state will block chain positioning infrastructure, core technology, which shows the importance of the block chain, which undoubtedly brought a major positive development for the block chain technology, but also pointed out the direction of development of related applications. It is foreseeable that block chain related issues will once again crowded together, will lead the capital, talent, technology flood the block chain industry. However, it must be clear to see in the lively behind, there is no good solution to barriers such as interest, privacy, regulatory, legal and other issues before the input-output ratio, application landing on the block chain from a real sense there is still a long way to go; on the other hand, the block chain is not a panacea, such as data sharing and privacy disclosure related to the recent frequent reptiles, not just by block chain can be resolved.
Overall speaking, the development prospects of the block chain is still very uncertain, especially in some areas of people's livelihood as well as the areas highlighted in his speech the Chairman of application integration, in time, will be born the block chain applications have real practical significance.
Reference material
- "The combination block chain and a stable currency cross-border payment solutions."
- "Application and Technical Supervision block chain in the securities field"
- "Block chain - from theory to practice."
Author: TalkingData Zhigang
For more information about TalkingData collaboration with MIT OPAL project, please click here to read.