Blockchain does not focus on technology, but on business remodel

1. First, the characteristics of decentralization
as the name suggests, a blockchain does not need a centralized server, and all information is stored on each node in the chain in a distributed form. Even if a node is damaged or tampered, the operation of the whole blockchain will not be affected, and the data will not be disordered
Second, consensus mechanism
consensus mechanism plays an important role in the trustworthiness of data on blockchain. Due to the decentralized architecture, any two nodes in the chain do not need to trust each other's identity to establish a connection, and there is no need to trust each other for data exchange. Since all nodes in the network can act as "supervisors", there is no need to worry about fraud. When a transaction is completed, all nodes on the blockchain will synchronize this information, so the consensus mechanism is based on the distributed architecture to ensure the data can not be tampered with
Third, smart contract
before we talk about blockchain + smart contract, let's first clarify the meaning of smart contract: a set of commitments defined in digital form, on which contract participants can implement these commitments. Generally speaking, it is a smart contract. In a computer system, when certain conditions are met, the contract can be executed automatically.

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On August 6, 2018, Mr. Cai Yi, financial instry consultant of Huawei Company and founder and CEO of Huaxuan technology, was in daga | blockchain & amp; AI (core group) made a special topic sharing, the theme is: the current situation and Prospect of blockchain finance. The following text is arranged according to the speech of the lecture and has been reviewed by the author

Cai Yi: Consultant of financial instry of Huawei, founder and CEO of Huaxuan science and technology, founder of shared reading association, member of China Writers Association, engaged in financial science and technology research for more than ten years, and is a senior expert in digital transformation of banks

good evening, everyone. I'm very glad and honored to share some thoughts with you here

let's make a simple self introction: my name is Cai Yi. I worked as a writer in my youth. I wrote some books, magazines and novels in the 1990s. At that time, there was no Internet. After work, I have been engaged in the information work of financial instry, from financial channels to data centers, from outlets to technology, witnessed the development of financial technology, and also found some problems. After 2014, I worked as an investment partner and in recent years as a financial instry consultant in Huawei. From the cognitive level, I worked as a consultant for the talent development of digital transformation in the financial instry

in 2015, I started Huaxuan technology and sharing reading club. At present, we mainly focus on the cognition of blockchain and the implementation of financial technology solutions. At the cognitive level, interactive sharing and knowledge management are carried out in the way of book club. At the technical level, the process and scene of the financial instry are reshaped by combining blockchain, big data and AI technologies. I am interested in blockchain and often study and discuss with some friends. Of course, some views are still superficial. I hope you can exchange more criticisms and corrections

the elite think tanks in the United States once believed that the core of maintaining global leadership is science and technology, which must rely on economy, and the core of economy is finance. So what is the future of finance

today's topic is: the current situation and Prospect of blockchain finance. I would like to introce it mainly from three aspects:

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briefly introce finance and financial system

the current situation of blockchain finance

prospect of blockchain finance

First of all, let's talk about the concept of finance. The word "finance" originated from Japan after the Meiji Restoration (1868), which is somewhat related to the gold standard established by Japan in 1897. At the beginning of the 20th century, it was introced into China from Japan. It was first proposed by Finance Minister Liang Qichao in 1902. At that time, Zhang Zhidong raised his objection. Therefore, after the Sino Japanese War of 1894, China remained in the silver standard, but it also made China avoid the Great Depression of 1929

The original meaning of finance is "money accommodation", which refers to the circulation of funds in the society. Later, its meaning has been expanded to indicate transactions and economic activities related to money and credit. In fact, there is another reason: gold used to be the only medium in international trade, and its value and wealth were based on gold. Therefore, when making standard gold bars, people need to melt gold into shape, which may be the original meaning of the word "finance", that is, to melt metal

Finance is the general name of currency circulation and credit activities and the economic activities associated with them.

let's look at the definition of Finance later: finance is the general name of currency circulation and credit activities and the economic activities associated with them. In a broad sense, finance generally refers to all the economic activities related to the issuance, custody, exchange, settlement and financing of credit currency, Even including the trading of gold and silver, the narrow sense of Finance specifically refers to the credit currency financing

In short, the contents of finance can be summarized as the issuance and withdrawal of money, the absorption and payment of deposits, the issuance and recovery of loans, the trading of gold, silver and foreign exchange, the issuance and transfer of securities, insurance, trust, domestic and international currency settlement, etc. To put it more bluntly, finance has two-way feedback. The institutions engaged in financial activities mainly include banking, insurance, securities, trust, financial leasing, etc. We all know this better and have frequent contact with it. Therefore, to understand the meaning and institutions of finance, we also need to understand China's financial system

2 China's financial system the development of China's financial system can be roughly divided into five stages:

initial formation stage, the first five years (1948-1953): the establishment of the people's Bank of China (1948). At this time, the PBC is far from what we want now. But it marks the beginning of new China's financial institution system

In the second five years (1953-1978), the people's Bank of China (PBC) is the only financial institution in China that deals with all kinds of banking business, integrating the central bank and ordinary banks. In fact, reunification means that we the model of foreign countries. I will not talk about specific countries

In the third five years (1979-1983), the Bank of China (established in 1912), the Agricultural Bank of China (established in 1951) and the Construction Bank of China (established in 1954) were restored or established one after another, but the people's Bank of China still integrates currency issuance and credit. We can see that after the reform and opening up, China's financial instry has developed very fast

the diversified financial institution system has begun to take shape. Ten years (from September 1983 to 1993): it has formed a financial institution system with the people's Bank of China as the core, the four major professional banks of instry, agriculture, China and construction as the main body, and other financial institutions coexisting and cooperating. After 1987, there were Bank of communications, China Merchants Bank, Shenzhen Development Bank, CITIC and Hengfeng. In 1988, Ping'an, Guangfa and Xingye appeared. Everbright, Huaxia and Shanghai Pudong Development Co., Ltd. appeared in 1992, and the Securities Regulatory Commission was set up in the same year

the stage of building and improving the social * * market financial institution system (since 1994): it has formed a relatively complete financial institution system with "one bank, three meetings" as the leading role, large, medium and small commercial banks as the main body, and a variety of non bank financial institutions as the auxiliary wing. In 1994, three major policy banks (China Development Bank, Export Import Bank of China and Agricultural Development Bank of China) were established. In 1995, Minsheng Bank, the first private commercial bank, was established (which is of great significance). In 1998, urban commercial banks emerged and CIRC was established. In fact, the CBRC appeared relatively late, and it was only established in 2003. Since then, the pattern of "one party, three meetings" has been formed. However, not long ago, the China Banking Regulatory Commission and the China Insurance Regulatory Commission merged into the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission. You can pay attention to this

from the perspective of evolution, the normative research of finance is often linear

that is, we often take a certain evolution form as the standard (usually developed market economy system, such as the Soviet Union, Germany, the United States and even Japan), describe the progress path of the financial system from non marketization to marketization, from inefficient allocation of financial resources to efficient allocation, and focus on explaining the gap of the standard form and the reasons

In fact, we can find from the development process of China's financial system just now: since 1978, China's financial system has evolved in the direction of marketization, standardization, diversification and internationalization, All kinds of financial institutions show a "network" and "strong connection" business form, that is, the connection degree between banks, banks and other financial institutions, as well as financial sub markets has increased significantly, and the credit connection is increasingly close, mixed and complicated

the ecological environment of financial instry has also undergone some obvious changes. On the one hand, traditional formal financial institutions seek to speed up transformation and innovation, and strive to seize the opportunity in business strategy, market positioning, management structure, format and proct innovation. On the other hand, a large number of emerging financial institutions have emerged

financial format also presents new characteristics such as real estate financialization, non bank institutions "banking" and asset securitization

The above changes are beyond the imagination of the instry, regulators and policy makers, and will bring a series of impacts:

on the positive side, the scale and composition of the financial system have been expanded, the business expansion and financial service capacity of financial institutions have been improved, the financial market has been developed, and innovative payment has developed rapidly. That's what we're going to talk about in financial technology

in a common saying, when the forest is big, there are all kinds of birds. The negative aspects are mainly reflected in the following aspects: the interaction between the

financial system and the real economy tends to be complex, and the role of the financial system in promoting and amplifying asset bubbles is underestimated. p>

the reticulation and strong correlation of the financial system widen the gap between the financial instry and financial supervision, and weaken the effectiveness of traditional supervision. China's current financial supervision system has only been in operation for more than ten years

the transmission path and mechanism of monetary policy through the financial system have changed (the transmission chain of monetary policy has been lengthened or deformed, the conctivity and effectiveness have declined), and the initiative and effectiveness of regulation are facing new constraints. Since its establishment in 1996, the current monetary policy framework has been constantly improved in response to the development of economy and financial market, but the complexity of the financial system in recent years has put it to a new test. Broad money M2 is also impacted by financial deepening, electronic payment and other factors, and further weakened by the shadow banking system

all kinds of cross market, cross business and cross-border behaviors to evade supervision make a variety of risk factors intertwined, such as: capital pool operation with serious mismatch of maturity and procts hides large liquidity risk, proct nesting leads to risk transmission, insufficient shadow banking supervision, local debt, real estate, external shocks, etc., all of which bring great challenges to the stability of the financial system

without comparison, there is no harm, and China's financial system as a whole is relatively backward. This kind of backwardness is mainly reflected in the backwardness of bank innovation: the people's Bank of China announced in October 2015 to abolish the "interest margin protection", while the interest rate of the United States had been completely marketized as early as April 1986, and China was nearly 30 years late

3 the institutional framework and basic problems of China's financial system

Second, the * * third party acts as a credit intermediary to guarantee the realization of asset transfer transactions

the third is the transaction settlement and clearing completed by the centralized clearing organization

Based on this, there are also four problems:

1) credit system and trust mechanism. Traditional finance must have strict transaction records to accumulate credit. Without transaction records, it is difficult to achieve financing or loans, because there is no technical means to ensure the safety of transactions between the two sides

(2) transaction settlement takes a long time. The time of traditional financial transactions has been speeding up, but the settlement time is still relatively long, especially for cross-border transactions, which often can not arrive immediately

(3) the cost of intermediary service is high. The traditional financial transaction system is very important

3. The subversive characteristics of blockchain lie in the following four aspects: first, transparency. The data record of the blockchain system is transparent to the nodes of the whole network, and the update operation of the data record is also transparent to the nodes of the whole network, which is the basis of the trustworthiness of the blockchain system. Because the blockchain system uses open source programs, open rules and high participation, the data records and operation rules of the blockchain can be reviewed and traced by the nodes of the whole network, with high transparency< Second, openness. The blockchain system is open. In addition to the fact that the private information of the parties directly related to the data is always encrypted, the data of the blockchain is open to all (except the blockchain system with special permission requirements). Anyone or participating nodes can query blockchain data records or develop related applications through the open interface, so the information of the whole system is highly transparent< Third, information can not be tampered with. Once the information of the blockchain system is verified and added to the blockchain, it will be permanently stored and cannot be changed (except for private blockchain systems with special change requirements). Unless more than 51% of the nodes in the system can be controlled at the same time, the modification of the database on a single node is invalid, so the data stability and reliability of the blockchain are extremely high
Fourth, decentralization. Decentralization is the most basic feature of the blockchain, which means that the blockchain no longer depends on the central processing node and realizes the distributed recording, storage and updating of data. In the traditional centralized network, attacking a central node can destroy the whole system, while in a decentralized blockchain network, attacking a single node cannot control or destroy the whole network. More than 5% of the nodes in the master network are just the beginning of gaining control. 2019 is the first year for the commercial application of blockchain technology, and the stimulation of favorable policies will make the development of blockchain technology more stable
with the application of blockchain technology graally penetrating into many fields such as digital finance and Internet, we have a clearer understanding of the value of blockchain
blockchain has formed a situation of global competition, and all countries are seizing the development opportunities, let alone China; Therefore, there is no doubt that blockchain has become a national strategy.

4. Chongqing jinwowo analyzes the impact of blockchain technology on the instry: blockchain will determine the relationship between people and all the Internet including artificial intelligence. The change of this relationship will have a subversive impact on the mainstream Internet business model and create a new era of decentralization.

5. 1. Blockchain in the field of payment: the cost of reconciliation, clearing and settlement between financial institutions, especially cross-border financial institutions, is high, and many manual processes are involved; The application of blockchain technology can rece the cost of reconciliation and dispute resolution between financial institutions, significantly improve the efficiency of the payment field, and make it easier for financial institutions to handle small cross-border payment business, which is concive to the realization of inclusive financial business. 2. In the field of clearing and settlement: different financial institutions have different infrastructure structures and business processes, involving many manual processes, which greatly increases business costs and is prone to errors. The application of blockchain technology, combined with the assets on the chain mentioned in the second point, can complete the point-to-point real-time clearing and settlement, so as to rece the cost of value transfer, shorten the time, improve efficiency, and both sides of the transaction can obtain good privacy protection. 3. Asset management: equity, bonds, bills and other assets are entrusted by different intermediaries, which increases the transaction cost of assets and brings the problem of forged vouchers. With the application of blockchain technology, this kind of assets can be digitized into digital assets on the chain. With the characteristics of irreversibility, non tampering and openness of blockchain, the efficiency of asset transaction can be improved and the cost of asset management can be reced. Because the characteristics of blockchain are irreversible and tamperable, the information is confidential and secure, the point-to-point transaction transmission is decentralized, and the information can be traced reliably; In order to rece intermediate costs and improve efficiency, it is not only used in accounting and auditing, but also can be applied to all walks of life. Now we can see the mode of blockchain cooperation operation from behind the operation of all walks of life. Therefore, blockchain will widely and profoundly change the way of human life, so the whole life service will enter the era of blockchain. In the process of Internet development, blockchain + physical instry, blockchain e-commerce and blockchain community operation can be applied to blockchain technology.

6. The disappearance should be temporary, just as newspapers are still there after Internet news. However, the new technology will certainly bring some impact or even impact. Blockchain may affect the following 12 instry regions:
1. Banking
as a digital, secure and anti-interference account, blockchain realizes the core function of Banking: the safe storage and transfer center of value. In other words, in the next few years, a wave of companies based on blockchain technology may affect the banking instry. Indeed, UBS, a Swiss company, and baecelays, a British company, are trying to use blockchain technology to improve payment terms. Some other banking companies even said blockchain technology could save $20 billion in intermediate costs

therefore, it is not surprising that banks, as financial service giants, have become the growth force of blockchain venture. Payment and transfer
recently, the world economic forum wrote in Forbes magazine that decentralized payment technology, such as bitcoin, may change the "business structure" of the transfer instry that has not changed for more than 100 years. Blockchain technology can avoid complex systems and create a more direct payment process between the payer and the payee. Whether it is domestic transfer or cross-border transfer, this method has the characteristics of low price, fast speed, and no intermediate fees. Abra (above) is a start-up enterprise that uses blockchain technology for global bitcoin and blockchain based transfer
3. Network security
although the system of blockchain is public, advanced encryption technology is used in the process of data exchange such as verification and transmission. This technology not only ensures the correct source of data, but also ensures that the data will not be intercepted in the intermediate process. If the application of blockchain technology is more extensive, the probability of being attacked by hackers may also decrease. Therefore, people think that blockchain system is more secure than traditional system. One of the reasons why blockchain system can rece the traditional network security risk is that it relieves the demand for middleman
"eliminating middlemen not only reces the potential security risk of hacker attacks, but also reces the possibility of corruption," Goldman Sachs wrote. Guardtime (above) is an Estonian start-up company, which mainly studies instrial network security solutions based on blockchain technology
4. Academic record and academia
holbertson school, a California software skills program, announced that it will use blockchain technology to identify academic credentials. This will ensure the authenticity of holbertson school students in course identification. If more schools adopt such transparent certificates, transcripts and diplomas, academic corruption will be greatly reced, not to mention the labor verification time and paper document cost
5. Elections
at the University of West Virginia, the student union is considering whether to use a voting platform based on blockchain technology to conct school elections. If such a platform is used, students can vote with mobile devices, and the voting results will be included in the public system, so the voting is completely safe. One student who supported this way explained that the vote "can never be modified or deleted by us - programmers, school administrators or students."
Agora voting, a Spanish software project, uses encryption technology to improve the security of online voting. Several of their systems have also been tested in Spain. Recently, the leader of this project proposed several ideas to turn bitcoin and blockchain technology into voting applications, which are far from experimental
6. Car rental and sales
later last year, visa and DocuSign announced a cooperative plan to create specific solutions for car rental by using blockchain technology. In the future, car rental can be completed in three steps of "click, sign and open". The specific operation is: customers choose the car they want to rent, and then the transaction will be uploaded to the public account of the blockchain; Then, the customer signs a lease agreement and an insurance agreement from the driver's seat, and the blockchain will upload the information in real time. It is not hard to imagine that this leasing model may also be applied to the field of car sales and car registration
7. Network communication and Internet of things
IBM and Samsung are working together to realize an idea called adept. Adept uses blockchain technology to build the pillar of decentralized Internet of things. Coindesk said that with adept, the decentralized P2P automatic telemetry system, the blockchain can become a public system for many devices, and there is no need for a central hub to mediate the communication of various devices. After removing the central control system and identifying each other, the devices can automatically communicate with each other, manage software updates, bugs, or energy consumption
other companies are also committed to integrating blockchain technology into the Internet of things platform. For example, filamen, which uses blockchain technology to build a decentralized network for sensor communication, announced that they have obtained US $5 million investment in round a financing, with the participation of Verizon ventures and Samsung ventures
8. Smart contract
a smart contract is actually a computer program that functions on the action of another object. Like ordinary computer programs, intelligent contracts are also an "If then" function, but blockchain technology realizes the automatic filling of these "contracts" without human intervention. This kind of contract may eventually replace the core business of the legal instry, that is, the business of drafting and managing contracts in the commercial and civil fields
for example, mortgage loans can be completed through blockchain technology and automatically executed every year according to the terms of the contract. Ethereum, a crowdfunding platform based on blockchain technology, not only provides decentralized applications, but also provides smart contracts. Some users have married with their smart contracts. Another company, hedgy, received $1.2 million in seed round investment from Tim Draper, Marc Benioff, boost.vc and sand hill angels earlier this year. The company uses smart contracts to build a platform for users to discuss the value of bitcoin
9. Prediction
blockchain technology may shake the whole research, analysis, consulting and prediction instry. Aug, an online crowdfunding platform, hopes to make a profit in a decentralized forecasting platform. The company said it would offer a service that looked like a gaming swap. The whole process will be decentralized, and the AUG platform will not only provide users with sports and stock gambling services, but also provide election and natural disaster gambling services. This idea actually goes beyond sports gambling and creates a "forecasting market"
10. Online music
many musicians are choosing blockchain technology to improve the fairness of online music sharing. Billboard reports that two companies are automatically solving licensing problems by paying artists directly and using smart contracts. Peertracks, which is still in its infancy, wants to create a new music streaming platform where users can pay artists directly without middleman's intervention. Peertracks also hopes to create more direct interaction between artists and users
ujo music, led by entrepreneur Phil Barry, claims that they are rebuilding the music instry on the blockchain. Ujo also hopes to solve the problem of streaming music and artist payment. In addition to streaming music, it is also expected that ujo will be able to better classify the artists and creators behind the songs by using intelligent contracts as the autonomous brain of the song list
11. Travel sharing
Uber and other travel applications seem to be on the opposite side of decentralization. This company is like a deployment center, using its algorithm to control its drivers and their charges. According to the report of blog, Israeli venture LA & # 39; Zooz wants to "go against Uber.". The company invented its own patented digital currency, which, like bitcoin, can be digitally recorded using blockchain technology. Different from the centralized network, users can call in LA & # 39; Find people with similar itinerary on zooz, and then use LA & # 39; Zooz's currency pays the taxi fare. These coins can be used for car hailing in the future. Users can get LA & # 39 as long as they allow the app to track their location; Zooz's digital currency
12. Stock trading
for many years, companies have been trying to simplify the process of stock purchase, sales and trading. Emerging blockchain technology makers believe that they can go beyond the past, realize the automation of the whole process, and improve security and efficiency. Overstock's subsidiary T & # Com wants to use blockchain technology to realize online trading of stocks. Overstock is already using blockchain technology to issue public shares, wired reported. At the same time, chain, a blockchain technology maker (mentioned above), is working with NASDAQ to realize the share trading of private companies through blockchain technology.

7. Registering the WeChat official account for block chain links is not required, as long as it is over 18 years old. The official account of WeChat is an open self media platform, anyone can check in.
however, wechat now has strict supervision on the number of keywords of blockchain, digital currency and bitcoin, so we should pay attention to it when we publish articles. Bitcoin, wikilink, bitcoin cash and Ethereum, which use blockchain technology, were too hot and speculative last year, and the government didn't like them.