The city of Guiyang believes that opening and sharing of big data, big data security and blockchain technology are three key areas in the big data industry.

That view was aired by Wang Yuxiang, deputy mayor of Guiyang, at the 2018 China International Big Data Expo, which concluded on Tuesday in Guiyang.

The second session of a blockchain finance international summit forum - and several high-level dialogues and forums on blockchain technology - took place during the expo from Saturday to Tuesday.

Many leading experts and academics, representatives from leading companies and overseas specialists swapped ideas and opinions on the evolution and prospects for blockchain technology - and some of the great achievements and progress that Guiyang has made in this field were also highlighted during the expo.

Blockchain is a digital ledger system that uses sophisticated cryptographic techniques to create a permanent, unchangeable and transparent record of exchanges to trace each transaction.

A book tilted Guiyang's Big Data and Blockchain Industries, edited by the Guiyang government about the city's practices and achievements in blockchain technology since 2014, was officially released at the blockchain summit forum.

"This is the first book focusing on a city's practices and experience in blockchain technology, and some experts believe that this book provides good examples for other cities to develop big data and technology finance," Wang said.

Guiyang has become something of a role model in the field of blockchain technology.

Starting in 2015, the city worked with Shenzhen Rural Commercial Bank to apply blockchain technology to the transaction of bills, enhancing the security of the trading process, reducing transaction costs and improving supervision and risk controls, according to Wang.

The mayor added that Guiyang also published a white paper in December 2016 to explain how the government could use blockchain technology to optimize governance, especially in targeting poverty alleviation and managing State-owned assets.

Xiaomi-backed XW Bank, based in Chengdu, signed a cooperation agreement with the finance office of the Guiyang government at the summit forum.

"This is an important move to promote economic development in Guiyang and improve financial services," said Liu Wenxian, president of the Guiyang Crowdfunding Finance Exchange.

The Guiyang Blockchain Lab, located in Guiyang Hi-tech Industrial Development Area, made an important move in blockchain recently.

Focused on blockchain technology and applications, and jointly built by the Guiyang government and the Institute of Software of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the research center on May 28 launched a cloud service platform named Reactive Permission Chain - or RepChain.

The RepChain platform offers secure channels for various trading operations and aims to provide a safe, reliable and flexible technical solution for companies.

"We believed that blockchain will become an indispensable part of finance and the internet in the future," said Yang Dong, an economics professor at Beijing-based Renmin University.

"And it can help the government to improve efficiency and reduce costs, boost economic growth and improve people's livelihoods in the coming years."

hanlu@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 05/30/2018 page12)