- China’s Belt and Road Initiative is about to embark on its second decade of expansion.
- The project is being led by the Shanghai ShuTu Blockchain Research Institute and is connected to the Conflux Network.
- The goal of the new blockchain is to eliminate cross-border friction.
With projects spanning Asia, Africa, and South America, China’s Belt and Road Initiative, spearheaded by Xi Jinping, is about to embark on its second decade of expansion.
To foster better cross-border collaboration and lower participant friction, the Chinese government has revealed intentions to create a new blockchain platform. The project is being led by the Shanghai ShuTu Blockchain Research Institute and is connected to the Conflux Network, a public blockchain network that may be able to help China meet its needs for international trade.
New blockchain platform
The platform will facilitate global collaboration for a range of Belt and Road initiatives related to trade, culture, and economy. Possible uses include boosting cross-border payments, tokenizing trade documents, and increasing supply chain transparency.
China’s blockchain industry is global in scope by design, but limitations on cryptocurrency use provide difficulties for Chinese companies using Ethereum and other platforms.
With support from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Conflux Network—also known as the Chinese Ethereum—became a significant substitute. Other noteworthy developments are the enterprise-facing systems AntChain and VeChain from Ant Group, which are incorporated into China’s financial infrastructure.
The goal of the new blockchain is to eliminate cross-border friction, which impedes the flow of information, products, and money between the roughly 150 nations that make up the Belt and Road Initiative.
Conventional payment methods might take several days or weeks to process, which significantly hinders trade between Central Asian nations. Blockchains can help with these issues, but to reach their full potential, they must be integrated with central bank systems.
