May 24, 2020
By Murtuza Merchant
China’s state-backed blockchain company is planning its first major international expansion, as Beijing continues to make the technology a key priority.
Blockchain-based Service Network (BSN) bills itself as a “one-stop-shop” to deploy blockchain applications in the cloud, a process that could otherwise be costly and time-consuming. It aims to link different blockchains together to help businesses deploy the technology.
Hong Kong-headquartered start-up Red Date Technology is one of the founding members of BSN. The company’s CEO Yifan He said that BSN is planning to launch a project called BSN Spartan Network overseas in August.
BSN’s blockchain networks, however, do not operate with any cryptocurrencies because China has cracked down on digital coins.
Proponents of blockchain technology say that it can reduce the cost and increase the speed of some business processes. Chinese President Xi Jinping has personally endorsed the technology, elevating it to a national priority.
The international plan will be a major push for BSN.
The Spartan Network will eventually be made up of half a dozen public blockchains that do not operate with cryptocurrencies. One of those will be a non-crypto version of the Ethereum blockchain when the project launches in August.
Blockchain transactions usually cost money. But He said that the fee will be paid in U.S. dollars rather than Ethereum’s related cryptocurrency called ether.
“The purpose of this is to drop the cost to use public chains to very minimal so that more traditional IT [information technology] systems and business systems can use public chains as part of their systems,” He said, speaking to CNBC.
About the author
Murtuza Merchant is a senior journalist and an avid follower of blockchain and cryptocurrencies.
