The Trusted Blockchain Initiative (可信区块链推进计划) (TBI) has just released China’s first self-regulatory proposal for the domestic blockchain sector.
TBI unveiled the “Blockchain Sector Self-regulatory Proposal” (区块链行业自律倡议书) on 31 October with a view to “creating an excellent development environment, and an accelerated push for the development of blockchain technology and industry.”
The Proposal calls for accelerated industrial application and deployment, as well as expediting in-depth integration of blockchains with the real economy.
TBI itself is an initiative of the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology (中国信息通信研究院) that was launched in the first half of 2018, and as of October had 225 members involved in 11 projects covering standards and assessment, open source communities, blockchain-as-a-service, blockchain security, industrial applications, traceability applications, supply chain finance and intellectual property rights.
According to domestic media the new proposal from TBI seeks to further increase the self-regulatory capability of China’s blockchain sector and drive the healthy and orderly development of the blockchain sector.
The Proposal is comprised of the following seven items:
- Strictly abide by national laws and regulations and maintain self-restraint; strengthen industrial self-regulation and jointly maintain an excellent market order and industrial environment; drive the healthy and sustainable development of the sector.
- Actively implement independent responsibilities as enterprises, establish sound internal management systems, earnestly implement the requirements of various industrial regulatory systems, and actively cooperate with regulatory authorities at various levels to properly perform industry development and supervisory work.
- Strengthen coordination and cooperation between industry, academia, researchers and users; drive the research and development of core blockchain technologies, actively participate in innovative research, the formulation of standards, testing and verification, the establishment of open source communities and other work; accelerate industry application and deployment.
- Firmly resist the use of blockchains to engage in illegal activity such as illegal-fund-raising, the spread of online rumours, ICO’s and variations of ICO’s, and the dissemination of unsound information.
- Actively spread blockchain knowledge, and refrain from using blockchains to engage in speculative investment, capital speculation, illegal financial transactions or other activities.
- Actively accept public supervision and fulfil social duties.
- Respect intellectual property rights, protect user privacy, and place emphasis upon the lawfulness and compliance of information services.
Despite launching a crackdown on cryptocurrencies and initial coin offerings in September last year, the Chinese central government has remained highly enthusiastic about the economic and industrial potential of blockchain technology.