China’s CESI to Devise 3 Blockchain Standards Guidelines for Smart Contracts and Privacy

China Devises Three Blockchain Standards Drafts by Year End 2018

As reported by Chinese media and news platform, China Money Network, the China Electronics Standardization Institute (CESI) has announced its plans to draft three blockchain standards. The effort in place has been dubbed as the path paver in what seems like a possible direction in which China will be taking towards blockchain technology. In particular, the standards will focus primarily on “smart contracts, privacy and deposits.”

The official news regarding this matter was first revealed by CESI’s Director of Blockchain Research Lab, Li Ming who emphasized that the ongoing efforts will be “association-based standards” as opposed to “national and international standards”. In fact, the former will be used as a foundation for the broader areas of blockchain technology.

As per the claims made, the Blockchain Technology and Industry Development Forum (CBD Forum) has planned for the three drafts to be released by year end of 2018, with its official launch set by year end 2019. The forum, which was established in 2016, is the doings of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology of China, whom have since published it’s the CBD white paper and “Reference Architecture of Blockchain standards.”

According to the Chairman of the International Standardization Technical Committee for DLT, Craig Dunn, interest in the blockchain industry continues to expand, however, doubts arise when it comes to “international standards”, which he argues is crucial for its overall survival. China is obviously not the only country that has been looking into potential standards as references, as “more than 50 countries are participating,” in this endeavor.

As the drafts come together, Ming points out that the proposed standards are “recommendations” and do not all have to be “mandatory”, adding that they can serve as a foundation to how the country will deal with the industry as well as ensuring that progress is made.