China To Release Three Blockchain Standards This Year

The China Electronics Standardization Institute (CESI), a government organization under the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT), is planning to release three blockchain standards on smart contracts, privacy and deposits this year.

In May of this year, Li Ying, head of MIIT’s Information and Software Department, announced that the government was working toward establishing national standards for blockchain, which will be developed for implementations of the technology in multiple sectors encompassing various decentralized designs. He also said that the national blockchain standardization committee was expected to be ready by the end of this year.

In a recent interview with Chinese media outlet DeepTech, Li Ming, director of CESI’s blockchain research lab, said that three blockchain standards would be released later this year. The blockchain standards, however, will be association-based, rather than national standards.

“The association-based standards will serve as a foundation on which national and international standards can make reference to or be based on,” said Li. “The blockchain standards are all recommended standards and not mandatory. They will be drafted to be used as a reference to guide the development of the industry.”

During a recent blockchain conference in Shangai, Craig Dunn, chairman of the International Standardization Technical Committee for Distributed Ledger Technology, said that international standards are needed as blockchain investment and acceptance are increasing but many people are still skeptical.

China has cracked down on cryptocurrencies and initial coin offerings (ICO) last year, but this does not mean the country wants to stifle investment in blockchain technology. In fact throughout 2018, local authorities have demonstrated a pro-blockchain attitude, funding multi-billion-dollar initiatives and blockchain-based networks.