Xinhua News Agency, Shanghai, October 30th (Reporter Du Kang) Is the Wuchang rice you bought really produced in wuchang city? Every charity expense you donated, where did it end up? Can the repeated piracy of music and literary works be banned? Blockchains that you don’t know have quietly solved problems for everyone in these fields.
There is a blockchain hidden behind the QR code, and you can know the "past lives" of the product by sweeping it.
In the food area of Wal-Mart Supermarket, a QR code was added to the packaging bag of a bag of Wuchang rice, which can be displayed by scanning it with WeChat. The first is the basic product information, such as specifications, manufacturers, shelf life, etc. Then there is traceability information, including raw material receiving time, raw material inspection report, product delivery report, delivery time, receiving time and other whole processes, as well as origin and the whole logistics line information.
It is not uncommon to use QR codes to transmit information. What is difficult is how to make this information "fidelity", and the blockchain will be useful.
What is a blockchain? As a decentralized database, blockchain’s chain block structure based on time stamp and consensus mechanism of distributed nodes make the above data traceable and tamper-proof. The combination of these characteristics with the physical industry has a huge imagination space.
"When there is no blockchain, the tracking of food depends on an intermediary or company to collect information, such as an e-commerce platform. In theory, this centralized data collection method may have the possibility of data modification. On the blockchain, when the data is generated, the producers upload various warehouse logistics information immediately, and the information cannot be tampered with. " Feng Yikai, one of the technical supporters of Wal-Mart’s traceability platform, said.
"Once there is a problem with the data, who and when the data on the blockchain is uploaded can be held accountable according to the timestamp. Unlike before, all parties in the supply chain shirked their responsibilities. " Feng Yikai added.
Food safety traceability is an example of blockchain applied to supply chain. Supply chain often involves many entities, including logistics, capital flow, information flow, etc. There are a lot of complicated cooperation and communication among these entities. "Trust is particularly important. The information on the blockchain is transparent and unchangeable, which effectively improves process efficiency and reduces costs. " Yang Zhiwei, managing partner of PwC China Strategy and Innovation, said.
The blockchain is by your side.
In addition to the supply chain, the application scope of blockchain now covers many industries such as financial services, credit reporting, social welfare, e-government, medical care and health.
Blockchain can help to store, manage and share medical data. Different medical institutions keep a large number of sensitive information such as residents’ health data, drug source information and electronic insurance policies. However, there has always been a problem of data sharing and transmission, which leads to poor utilization of user health medical data by medical institutions. In addition to problems such as inconsistent data formats, residents are more worried about how to ensure their privacy after medical data is "networked". Who will keep the data? Who has access?
Blockchain also provides a solution. At present, some companies have saved medical data through blockchain technology. "When residents go to see a doctor, they can authorize some data in medical records to doctors. The unauthorized data part is a mess to others. " Guo Yuhang, chairman of China Blockchain Application Research Center, said. In this way, the data is not saved by a hospital or a third-party institution, and the personal privacy of patients is guaranteed.
"This is actually a contradiction between data sharing and privacy. With the landing of 5G and the application of the Internet of Things, the data generated by the whole society has increased geometrically. How to authorize the use of data while protecting privacy, the blockchain will have more application space in the future. " Guo Yuhang said.
In terms of e-government, blockchain can help information integration and real-time sharing of data between multiple departments, so that the government can be a "store second". In June 2019, Chongqing launched a blockchain government service platform, and the time for registering a company in Chongqing can be shortened from ten days to three days at the earliest. Haidian District, Beijing, through the blockchain, realizes the simultaneous handling of "real estate registration+electricity transfer".
In the field of charity, the blockchain allows every donation to be tracked. In July 2016, Ant Financial cooperated with the China Social Assistance Foundation to apply blockchain technology to the charity project "Hearing-impaired children regain their new voices" on Alipay’s love donation platform. Every donation can be tracked all the time, and the public welfare account will become transparent and trustworthy.
The future has come, and there is still a long way to go.
Although the blockchain has broad application prospects, at present, there is still a distance from large-scale landing.
The data on the "chain" is not easy to be tampered with, but "on the chain" and "off the chain" may not be completely corresponding. Take the QR code on the product packaging as an example. The QR code itself is easy to be copied. Even if the blockchain technology is used, the QR code is not guaranteed to be genuine.
"In supply chain management, especially in the fields of traceability and logistics, the correspondence and binding of information on and off the chain, and the rapid retrieval of information on the chain are all points that need to be broken through. The future integration of blockchain and Internet of Things, cloud computing, artificial intelligence and other technologies is the development trend. " Insiders introduced.
"Blockchain does not necessarily eliminate fraud, nor can it replace strict supervision. However, with the promotion and application of blockchain, the cost of fraud can be continuously increased. " Guo Yuhang said.
In terms of data privacy and sharing, industry insiders suggest that the underlying technology of blockchain still needs to be further improved. "The information on the blockchain is encrypted, and the relevant parties can crack the real meaning behind the numbers after the user authorizes it. However, there may still be loopholes and technical risks cannot be ignored. " Blockchain expert Xiao Shiyuan said.
In addition, in the data of e-government, medical care, finance and other industries, we need to solve the problems of data format and data transmission first. Taking medical data as an example, different medical institutions have different data formats and diverse data types. Moreover, the data of a large number of institutions still remain on paper, and informationization has not been completed. The massive uplink data is too large, and the data storage mode needs to be continuously optimized.
"Technological advancement does not mean the feasibility of the business model. As more projects in the blockchain actually land, the whole industry has entered a cycle of accelerated application, and related exploration will become more mature. " Guo Yuhang said.