According to an announcement from China’s national-level blockchain initiative, the Blockchain-based Service Network (BSN), blockchain technology will be used to verify the real-name identities of the country’s 1.4 billion citizens. This move is likely to raise concerns among proponents of data privacy. With assistance from BSN, the RealDID initiative was led by China’s Ministry of Public Security.
With the launch of the RealDID service, users will be able to use DID addresses and private keys to register and log in to websites anonymously, guaranteeing that business data and transactions are kept separate from personal information.
According to state media, content creators with over 500,000 or 1 million followers are required by China’s top six social media platforms—WeChat, Sina Weibo, Douyin, Kuaishou, Bilibili, and Xiaohongshu—to publicly display their real names or the names of their financial backers. According to state media, this will increase credibility and allow for public oversight.
This is the first national-level real-name decentralised identity system in the world, according to a press release from BSN.
China’s National Information Centre, in partnership with China UnionPay and China Mobile, is responsible for managing BSN China. BSN Global, purportedly an independent, firewalled organisation, oversees its global operations independently.
A bipartisan U.S. bill that would forbid federal government employees from transacting with businesses like Tether’s parent company iFinex and using blockchains manufactured in China is reportedly in the works. The bill’s goals are to guard against national security threats and shield private information from access by foreign adversaries.
In an effort to promote counternarcotics cooperation and address concerns about China’s human rights practices, the United States recently removed China’s Institute of Forensic Science, which is under the Ministry of Public Security’s jurisdiction, from a list of trade sanctions. The goal of this action is to prevent the trafficking of fentanyl and related chemicals into the United States. China then issued a warning to its chemical producers not to produce precursors for fentanyl.
China’s National Narcotics Control Commission warned in a recent circular that anyone manufacturing the chemicals needed to create opioids ran the risk of falling under the “long-arm jurisdiction” of international law enforcement.