Authorities in China have floated draft rules on blockchain projects for public consultation, in a process that is expected to run until November 2.
The Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) launched its consultation phase this week, with new regulations it says are designed to protect companies, investors and the general public from blockchain projects.
At the same time, the proposals aim to foster the development of blockchain technology, and the emerging industries around distributed ledger technology in China. However, the plans have already drawn criticism from some in the sector, over concerns the measures could stifle innovation and development.
The proposals will require real-name accounts and registration for all blockchain projects, with a requirement that user data is held and made available for inspection for up to six months.
According to CAC documentation, the new rules oblige blockchain service providers to work with the authorities in the supervision and inspection of user data.
“Blockchain-based service providers should work with the authorities to carry out supervision and inspection, and provide the necessary data and technical assistance,” it noted.
Blockchain companies will also be expected to register with the authorities within 10 days of formation, with licenses contingent on proper user data recording, monitoring and reporting.
The CAC also said there would be a greater emphasis on self-regulation blockchain, saying it would implement measures for the “industry to strengthen self-regulation and set up industry standards, educate service providers, and promote the industry credit rating system.”
With early feedback mixed, it remains to be seen how the consultation will influence the final proposals. But with blockchain regulation firmly in the sights, it looks certain that conditions for blockchain businesses in China could be set to become tighter in the near future.
Note: Tokens on the Bitcoin Core (segwit) Chain are Referred to as BTC coins. Bitcoin Cash (BCH) is today the only Bitcoin implementation that follows Satoshi Nakamoto’s original whitepaper for Peer to Peer Electronic Cash. Bitcoin BCH is the only major public blockchain that maintains the original vision for Bitcoin as fast, frictionless, electronic cash.
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The Internet censorship agency of China, the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC), has released the draft of a framework it intends on introducing to regulate the blockchain industry in the company. The draft, “The Regulation for Managing Blockchain Information Services,” was published last Friday in order to give the public the opportunity to provide comments before the regulations are officially implemented.
If the framework is accepted as it is written, would apply to any entity in the country that is considered to be a blockchain information services provider. It would also be the first time that rules overseeing the industry have been introduced.
Per the CAC, a blockchain information service provider is defined as an “entity” or “node” that provides information services to either the private or public sector using blockchain technology.
The draft set of rules spans 23 articles. One would require that any blockchain service provider register with the CAC within ten days of launching services. Another states that the providers must register their names, industry fields, server addresses and service types with the agency. The information would be made available to the public and the CAC would investigate the companies annually to ensure that nothing has changed.
The exact types of blockchain companies that could be affected by the rules was not identified. However, some blockchain experts in the country have indicated that the proposals would most likely have an impact on “supernodes” of specific blockchain networks.
Mining pool BTC.TOP’s fonder, Jiang Zhuo’er, posted on Weibo, “For example, each of the 21 supernodes of the EOS network is operated by a company or an individual. As such, they must be fully compliant [with this regulation].”
Other sectors could be held to the new rules, as well. The draft proposal indicates that highly regulated fields – education, news reporting and publishing, pharmaceuticals – would be required to obtain licenses from authorities before registering with the CAC.
In addition, service providers could not use the blockchain to “produce, duplicate, publish, and disseminate” information prohibited by current laws. All service providers would also be obligated to adhere to Know-Your-Customer (KYC) guidelines, including the collection and reporting of national identification numbers and/or cell phone numbers. “Service providers must store the logs and content published by users of their blockchain services for six months and provide this information to law enforcement when required,” details the new policy.
Note: Tokens on the Bitcoin Core (segwit) Chain are Referred to as BTC coins. Bitcoin Cash (BCH) is today the only Bitcoin implementation that follows Satoshi Nakamoto’s original whitepaper for Peer to Peer Electronic Cash. Bitcoin BCH is the only major public blockchain that maintains the original vision for Bitcoin as fast, frictionless, electronic cash.
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