Research and practice of blockchain in various countries around the world

Currently, blockchain technology is at the top of Fintech. Bitcoin has been running successfully for 8 years, withstood hacker attacks, and its price has continued to rise, and it has been widely accepted around the world. Bitcoin has brought blockchain into the vision of more people. Although Bitcoin is very successful, blockchain technology is still in the laboratory stage. Various blockchain experiments are emerging one after another, and governments around the world have begun to pay attention to blockchain.

The author has compiled the research and practice of blockchain technology in some countries for your reference.

European Union

The European Central Bank (ECB) publicly announced in its consultation report "Vision of the Eurosystem - The Future of European Financial Market Infrastructure" that it is exploring how to use blockchain technology for its own benefit. The executive director of the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) said that blockchain technology can improve post-trading processes. ESMA has spent more than a year studying the impact of digital currencies such as Bitcoin on the EU investment environment.

Netherlands

The Dutch Central Bank (DNB) detailed the pilot project in its annual report on March 16. DNB concluded that blockchain technology can improve the quality of its business and DBNCoin is a priority project for the bank's internal developers this year. The Netherlands announced that it will establish a blockchain park in September 2016, where banks and financial companies will work together to develop applications for blockchain technology in payment and a wide range of financial fields.

Poland

The Polish Ministry of Digital Affairs is considering using Bitcoin and blockchain technology to further advance the digitalization of government services and taking measures to promote the development of digital currency and blockchain technology. The agency was established in 2015 and is a government agency dedicated to "promoting the digital development of government."

Germany

Germany’s Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin) is studying the potential applications of distributed ledgers, including cross-border payments, inter-bank transfers and the storage of trade data.

U.K

Christopher Woolard, director of strategic competition at the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), said in his speech that blockchain technology should now be given some room to develop, so it will not be regulated.

Australia

Tony Richards, head of the Reserve Bank of Australia's payments policy department, said at the 2016 Sydney Innovative Payments Conference that the Australian central bank is conducting research on digital currencies and blockchain payment systems.

Canada

The Bank of Canada has announced that it is developing a digital Canadian dollar based on blockchain. The project, called CAD Coin, is part of the Project Jasper blockchain exploration.

Russia

The Russian Central Bank believes that as more and more financial institutions around the world begin to adopt blockchain technology, blockchain applications will play a very important role in the future financial field.

Japan

Japanese regulators have proposed that digital currencies such as Bitcoin be accepted as a form of payment. In this way, digital currencies will be legally equivalent to traditional Japanese currencies. The Financial Services Agency (FSA) of Japan is considering whether to amend the relevant legal provisions.

South Korea

South Korea’s sole stock exchange, Korea Exchange (KRX), said it is developing an over-the-counter (OTC) trading system using blockchain technology, making it one of the companies exploring the use of blockchain technology in securities trading.

Singapore

Singapore's Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan said in his speech at the opening of the second Innovation and Technology Exhibition that Singapore will create a policy special zone and blockchain companies will not be restricted by existing financial policies.

India

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is continuing to research blockchain technology after discussing it in December 2015, according to The Times of India.

China

Unlike other countries, the core reason why Fintech is so popular in China is that people hope to use this opportunity to break the dilemma of insufficient financial supply and get a share of the high financial "dividends", which is not disruptive enough. In contrast, blockchain is very disruptive. Fintech or Chinese Internet finance is currently in a dilemma. There are reasons for this, including the lack of innovation "piercing power" of the technology itself, and the delayed response of regulators and the lack of supervision, which have led to some illegal operators being unscrupulous.

Unlike Fintech, which can develop without government funding, blockchain is a technology-driven change and is still in an experimental state. Technological innovation requires a lot of basic research. The cultivation of social environment, the cultivation of talents, long-term experimental investment, and relaxed commercial application all require national support.

The Chinese government must attach importance to and support the research and development of blockchain technology. Ignoring or coldly treating it will affect its development in China and miss the opportunity to obtain a new round of innovation dividends.