BlockchainReporter.net spoke with Ma Haobo, the founder of aelf who was also recently selected to join the committee for the government-affiliated Chinese Institute of Electronics Blockchain Branch.
The appointment aligns with the launch of the institute’s new professional branch, marking the first official step by one of the largest engineering organizations in China to explore and advance the blockchain industry.
The relationship between China and the Blockchain industry has been a complicated one, to say the least. On one hand, the use of Cryptocurrency is banned there. On the other hand, the Chinese Institute of Electronics Blockchain Branch now exists. How do you see this relationship changing over the next few years?
Blockchain is a great innovation in the field of Internet and information technology in the past decade. It promotes the transformation of information Internet to value Internet. It may affect or even challenge current models and systems in many industries, but for technology itself, the Chinese government has always holds a positive attitude, the purpose of the China Electronics Society Blockchain Branch is to promote the healthy development of academia, technologies, applications in blockchain industry.
A number of governments such as those of Australia and the United Kingdom have made use of blockchain for everything from Public land registration to drivers’ license registration. What aspects of public life are you most excited to see Blockchain being used for in China?
Blockchain technology can effectively remove intermediary platforms in the Internet industry, empower the industry, break the original companies’ boundaries, eliminate intermediary monopoly effect and establish a better incentive system. Therefore, in my opinion, there are applications where there are platforms and intermediaries, such as decentralized payment platforms, decentralized trading platforms and decentralized logistics platforms. At the moment, aelf’s solution for the current blockchain underlying performance problem is ahead of the whole industry. aelf as a blockchain field cloud computing platform, has excellent test network performance and has the ability to support decentralized commercial applications.
What involvement does aelf plan to have in these new implementations?
aelf is a decentralized cloud computing platform, which can help organizations to transform the way they deliver services and collaborate by building blockchain infrastructure. aelf unlocks opportunities for communication and collaboration between businesses through an efficient cross-chain communication mechanism and enables companies to build their own decentralized applications at very low cost. By combining blockchain technologies such as cloud nodes and parallel processing, aelf will become a blockchain system for commercial level secure transactions.
To achieve this, aelf:
– provides public or private, side-chain solutions which specific to an application to meet various of business needs.
– uses a custom side chain, aelf facilitates collaboration and communication between businesses.
– guarantees the business performance and speed.
Some see the opening of a Blockchain branch in a Chinese Government-backed institute as a sign of the government becoming more lenient about Blockchain technology. Do you think this attitude will spill over to cryptocurrencies as well?
China has the strictest regulation of digital currency, and the government has ordered the prohibition of digital currency. On September 4, 2017, the central bank and seven other ministries jointly issued a document calling for the suspension of token financing activities. On August 24th, five ministries and commissions jointly issued the “Risk Tips on Preventing Illegal Fund Raising in the Name of “Cryptocurrency” and “Blockchain”. These various bans from the government have once again cooled the blockchain industry. However, while China strictly forbids digital currency, there are some loosening. In March this year, central bank official Xiaochuan Zhou pointed out that digital currency should be carefully developed; on September 18, China launched a stable currency linked to yuan. At the end of October, in the real arbitration case of the equity transfer contract dispute accepted by Shenzhen International Arbitration Institute (Shenzhen Arbitration Commission), Shenzhen Arbitration Commission affirmed the property of Bitcoin property and was protected by law. Throughout the year of 2018, local governments have implemented different “inclination policies”, but they all adhere to the overall principle of “encouraging chain technology and prohibiting cryptocurrency”; digital currency transactions have to be fully recognized by the regulatory authorities, and there is still a long way to go.
What’s next for aelf in the coming year (2019)?
Next year is mainly to launch the main net. It is expected to be completed and being launched in the first quarter of 2019; the current technology development work is steadily advancing, we are following the development plan on the road map; aelf testnet was officially launched on June 30th, 2018. The launching of the testnet indicates aelf network has begun to take shape. Before aelf main net is being officially launched in the first quarter of 2019, aelf will iterate each month. Before launch the main net, aelf will realize cross-chain interaction, complete the network economic system and peripheral tools. Detailed technical details will be updated weekly in our weekly technical development report.
About aelf:
aelf is a multi-chain network and smart contract platform pioneering blockchain in business. aelf’s blockchain will enable businesses to operate their applications on the public chain domain, or their own private chains, without the hassle of building their own. For more information, visit aelf.io
