Blockchain technology is still heating up. In addition to being rich, OKCoin wants to do more exploration

Since the second half of last year, the concept of blockchain has been hotly discussed. Even the central bank has joined the ranks. Relevant official institutions represented by Zhou Xiaochuan have also proposed the concept of developing central bank digital currency. Since the fall of 2015, several Chinese Bitcoin trading platforms have also expanded new businesses. In addition to using blockchain and related technologies to expand into more Internet financial scenarios, they are also trying new "信用公正" scenarios.

We have previously reported on the Bitcoin trading site OKCoin, which is also making such attempts. In addition to the Haoyouqian App launched in October 2015, the company will also explore more, such as a crowdfunding platform based on blockchain and a global commercial blockchain clearing application.

OKCoin was founded in June 2013 and is a major business of OK Financial. At the beginning of its establishment, the company received a $1 million angel investment from Tim Draper, the father of Silicon Valley venture capital, and received a tens of millions of dollars in Series A financing at the end of 2013. In 2014, OKCoin launched the blockchain financial connection network currency bank, providing an API interface to facilitate developers to access the Bitcoin payment function, thus deriving the function of a "payment exchange" based on the exchange.

During 2015, the domestic Bitcoin industry structure basically stabilized, and the business growth of each company basically slowed down. Therefore, each company is also exploring new businesses. In October 2015, OKCoin launched an Internet financial product - Haoyouqian App. CEO Xu Mingxing told 36Kr, "Currently, Haoyouqian has more than 100,000 registered users, and the transaction volume is close to 100 million."

On the surface, Haoyouqian is very similar to P2P, and is a lending application based on acquaintances. But in fact, this is not the case. The Haoyouqian platform itself is just an information matching platform. It does not have a capital pool, and the platform does not earn interest spreads, but charges a handling fee (currently still free). The platform draws on blockchain technology and combines it with P2P finance and crowdfunding. Borrowers, funders, and crowdfunding parties are matched on the platform through LBS information, circle of friends, and alumni circle. At the same time, without leaking privacy, the transaction information is notarized on the blockchain, a personal credit system is established, and transaction decisions are assisted. In addition to direct borrowing, users can also initiate crowdfunding loans on Haoyouqian.

In addition to crowdfunding loans, Haoyouqian will also launch commodity crowdfunding and equity crowdfunding. The product logic of this equity crowdfunding is very similar to Nasdaq Linq, a Bitcoin equity product launched by Nasdaq at the end of last year, which displays equity transfer information in the form of an interactive equity timeline. Haoyouqian hopes to improve the fairness, openness and efficiency of equity crowdfunding through Bitcoin technology.

Blockchain technology is still heating up. In addition to being rich, OKCoin wants to do more exploration

In addition, OKCoin is also planning to build a global blockchain clearing system, which will include not only small banks, but also remittance companies, financial companies, etc. Currently, there are dozens of institutions in the public beta, with millions of dollars in transaction volume, and it is expected to go online in 2 months.

Xu Mingxing told 36Kr that this blockchain clearing system, because of real-time account arrival and hedging, will greatly accelerate the circulation of funds and improve the efficiency of capital use of enterprises. On the other hand, the financial service institutions that join can choose the open and fair parts, which is conducive to improving openness and fairness. At this stage, this blockchain clearing system still mainly relies on BD capabilities, and most of the participants are financial service institutions in various countries that hope to overtake others.

Currently, many companies on the market are planning to provide blockchain-based information systems to financial institutions. The reason why OKCoin chose to start with the clearing system is mainly due to competition considerations. Financial institutions generally already have a set of information systems, and for risk control and security considerations, they often choose the blockchain system services of these information system providers.

Since 2015, blockchain technology has continued to heat up around the world. In the middle of the year, the British company Coinsilium announced plans for an IPO (later postponed). The company is committed to investing in startups in Bitcoin and blockchain technology. In September 2015, the startup R3 CEV launched the R3 Blockchain Alliance, which has attracted more than 40 financial institutions to date. Microsoft has recently joined the alliance. In December 2015, Nasdaq completed the first securities transaction based on the blockchain platform, which is a milestone for the decentralization of the global financial market. In China, relevant official agencies represented by Zhou Xiaochuan have also proposed the concept of developing central bank digital currency. Therefore, venture capital in the domestic blockchain field is likely to remain hot for a while.