China’s Central Bank testing Blockchain Platform

An institute linked to China’s Central bank; the People’s Bank of China (PBOC), is testing a blockchain-based platform. The Blockchain Open Registry Platform (BROP) was unveiled at the Global Financial Science and Technology Summit in Hangzhou on 26 March 2018.

The BROP is designed to protect and enhance intellectual property rights; such as patents and copyrights, in China by creating a permanent record of them on the blockchain, Technode reported. Details of how this would be done are not provided but it sounds like a Smart Contract. A Smart Contract is a document written as a decentralized application (DApp) that is supposed to function inside a blockchain ecosystem.

The BROP was developed by the Hangzhou or Zhongchao Blockchain Research Institute. The Institute is part of the Zhongchao Credit Industry Development, which is a subsidiary of the China Banknote Printing and Minting Corporation (CBPMC). The CBPMC prints banknotes under the auspices of the PBOC.

Is the People’s Bank of China working with Hyperledger and Ethereum?

The institute has applied for 22 blockchain patents, Tencent News reported. It is also part of the Linux Foundation.

Since the Linux Foundation is sponsoring the Hyperledger Project to develop commercial DApps for the Ethereum operating system it is safe to assume that BROP will use Ethereum. Interestingly enough a Google search for a Blockchain Open Registry Platform (BROP) took me to the Hyperledger website.

Hyperledger is an attempt to build a blockchain database for DApps based on Ethereum. Hyperledger DApps can be integrated with the Ethereum (ETH) or Ether cryptocurrency and ERC20 Protocol tokens. ERC20 Protocol tokens can be converted and integrated with the Bancor Network Token (BNT) and the Bancor Protocol.

It is not clear if BROP has a website or if it is planning an initial cryptocurrency offering (ICO) at this time. Since access to ICOs is restricted in China right now, such a token generation event (TGE) is doubtful. It sounds as if BROP is an attempt to bring the Swiss-based Hyperledger to China.

The PBOC has displayed a double-standard on cryptocurrencies. It has tried to prohibit cryptocurrency trading and Bitcoin (BTC) mining in China, The South China Morning Post reported. Yet officials of the bank; including newly appointed governor (CEO) Yia Gang have praised the idea of cryptocurrencies, Coin Desk reported. Former PBOC governor Zhou Xiaochuan even called the ascendency of digital currency “technologically inevitable.”