A Brief Overview of the Development History of Alliance Chains: The Three Stages of "Made in China" Alliance Chains

Author: 01 Blockchain / Source: Pirate Number

Original Title: "Three Stages of the 'Made in China' Consortium Blockchain"

Compared to the closed nature of private chains and the regulatory challenges of public chains, consortium chains are more aligned with domestic development and regulatory requirements. Since 2016, China has begun exploring and developing consortium chains, and a rich ecosystem of domestic consortium chains has already formed. Based on the emergence of consortium chains in different periods, this article divides the development of domestic consortium chains into three stages: focusing on exploring the underlying platforms of consortium chains, the initial steps of consortium chains; led by internet giants, the emergence of startups enriches the landing and application of consortium chains; the emergence of BSN breaks the isolation between chains, and the Chang'an Chain signifies another breakthrough in consortium chains in terms of software and hardware.

1. The Initial Appearance of Domestic Consortium Chains

In September 2015, the American fintech company R3CEV, in collaboration with 42 globally renowned banks including Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, and HSBC, explored the application of blockchain technology in the financial sector and launched the first blockchain consortium—the R3 Blockchain Consortium. R3 achieved digital collaboration under regulation, connecting over 400 institutions from both the private and public sectors, promoting businesses in capital markets, global trade, and insurance, and proving the feasibility of consortium chains.

In 2016, the Linux Foundation established Hyperledger, a project that united organizations such as IBM, Intel, Samsung, Microsoft, Visa, and American Express, and launched underlying development platforms for consortium chains like Hyperledger Fabric. This consortium chain expanded the scope of cooperation to include banking, supply chain management, the Internet of Things, manufacturing, and production-based fields. Thus, an international wave of consortium chains was set off.

During the rise of consortium chains, domestic alliances focused on exploring the development of underlying protocol platforms for consortium chains also began to emerge. In 2016, the China Blockchain Research Alliance (CBRA), the China Distributed Ledger Basic Protocol Alliance (ChinaLedger), and the Financial Blockchain Cooperation Alliance (Golden Alliance) were established one after another. The three alliances collaborated to write the "White Paper on Blockchain Technology and Applications in China," setting industry standards for the development of consortium chains.

However, due to a lack of relevant technology and collaborative systems, domestic developers still relied on "imported" consortium chains like Hyperledger Fabric. In 2017, "domestic" consortium chains began to flourish. That year, FISCO BCOS was born on the basis of the open-source working group of the Golden Alliance and announced its open-source status. This was one of the earliest financial-grade open-source underlying platforms for consortium chains in China and has developed into the largest open-source consortium chain ecosystem in the country.

Source: 01 Blockchain, organized based on public information

Source: DT Finance

2. Giants Lead, Startups Burst with Vitality

From 2017 to 2018, the construction of domestic consortium chains entered a stage of vigorous growth. In addition to underlying development platforms for consortium chains, such as the open-source FISCO BCOS from the Golden Alliance, domestic consortium chain projects also saw the emergence of consortium chain BaaS platforms launched by internet giants, such as Ant Blockchain BaaS platform, as well as emerging teams providing consortium chain technology output services, such as Qulian Technology.

Giants have a natural advantage in laying out consortium chains. Leveraging their existing rich industrial resources and ecosystems, the consortium chains launched by these giants can quickly penetrate various upstream and downstream sectors.

Due to the high technical threshold of blockchain technology, directly building blockchain applications on the underlying operating system remains a challenge for most developers, which has spurred internet giants to develop second-layer networks through BaaS platforms. In June 2016, Tencent's subsidiary WeBank developed the first consortium chain cloud service BaaS aimed at the financial industry in China; in July 2017, Baidu launched the blockchain open platform BaaS; in August 2018, the "JD Blockchain Anti-Counterfeiting Traceability Platform" BaaS officially went live, allowing data on the production, processing, logistics, and retail transactions of products' raw materials to be recorded on the chain.

Source: 01 Blockchain, organized based on public information

In addition, a number of startup teams began to emerge, bringing vitality to China's consortium chains. By developing underlying protocol technology for blockchain, launching various targeted consortium platforms, and focusing on specific landing scenarios, these teams provide services in the form of blockchain solution outputs, continuously broadening the breadth and depth of the consortium chain ecosystem. The service scenarios of consortium chains have been further expanded to include digital copyright protection, supply chain traceability, cross-border payments, the Internet of Things, and medical information sharing.

Source: 01 Blockchain, organized based on public information

3. Rooting in Infrastructure, Extending to Controllable Software and Hardware

By 2019, domestic consortium chain platforms had become competitive. However, due to the lack of unified technical standards, data and business interactions among various platforms were insufficient, leading to high chain-building costs and difficulties in promoting applications. In April 2020, the entry of China's independent global infrastructure network BSN (Blockchain-based Service Network) changed this situation.

BSN was initiated and established by six companies: the National Information Center, China Mobile, China UnionPay, China Mobile Financial Technology, Smart Government and Enterprise, and Beijing Hongzao Technology. Addressing the industry's lack of recognized public infrastructure for blockchain, BSN solved problems such as high chain-building costs, heterogeneous underlying platforms, data interoperability issues, and difficulties in promoting applications.

On the foundation of domestic "chains" stabilizing their footing, domestic "chips" have also been put on the agenda. On January 27, 2021, 27 alliance member units, including Beijing Microchip Research Institute, Tsinghua University, Beihang University, Tencent, and Baidu, jointly initiated the establishment of the "Chang'an Chain Ecological Alliance" in Beijing. Signifying "long-term stability, creating brilliance again, and linking the world," the "Chang'an Chain" is supported by the Chang'an Chain software and hardware technology system, becoming China's first alliance chain combining independently controllable software and hardware technology.

Source: 01 Blockchain, organized based on public information

Currently, consortium chains still face challenges at the technical level, with performance, interoperability, and security privacy needing further enhancement, and relevant key technologies awaiting breakthroughs. The development of consortium chains still has a long way to go, but we can see an overall positive trend. From underlying systems to BaaS platforms, from giants to startup teams, from financial applications to full-scenario applications, from consortium silos to public infrastructure, from domestic "chains" to domestic "chips." In the future, consortium chains will continue to deepen and develop across various dimensions.