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WeBank Blockchain Patents Filings Rank Third Highest Globally for 2019

China’s WeBank is leading the global banking community in banking technology patents jumping ahead of US giants JP Morgan Chase and Bank of America with 632 filed patents in 2019.

The majority of patents filed by WeBank focused on ABCD technologies (AI, Blockchain, Cloud, Computing, Big Data). According to a release on 24 April, WeBank also filed the third most blockchain patents globally making it the only bank in the top 10 for 2019, just behind non-bank giants Alibaba and Tencent.

Growing FinTech in China

As China races towards blockchain dominance, the increasing number of patents filed by WeBank indicates the banking industry giant is serious about growing its fintech capabilities. WeBank is determined to empower developers with open source fintech and create a collaborative local and global ecosystem.

Source: WeBank Blockchain Patents 2019

One of WeBank’s most interesting FinTech patents of 2019 was CN110188112, a unique device and method for tracking the changing records of blockchain smart contracts. According to the technical scheme, the method allows the change-record of a smart contract to be quickly and efficiently tracked and acquired by all parties while maintaining the authenticity of the smart contracts stored information.

China’s National Blockchain

In 2019, WeBank announced the open source fintech strategy that aims to facilitate the collaboration of developers around the world. So far, it has brought out dozens of successful open source projects, such as FATE (Federated AI Technology Enabler), FISCO BCOS (consortium chain platform built together with FISCO open source taskforce team) and open-source big data platform suite WeDataSphere.

Earlier in April, WeBank’s largest shareholder Tencent was invited to join the Chinese central government’s national blockchain committee to work on setting industrial standards.

The “Public Notice on the Formation of a National Blockchain and Distributed Ledger Technology Standardization Technical Committee.” is made up of 71 individuals from different backgrounds, including political, industrial, academic, and research organizations. The committee will be chaired by MIIT deputy minister Chen Zhaoxiong, along with five vice-chairs, all of whom are government staff, including Di Gang, the vice-head of the Chinese central bank digital currency institute.

Other committee members include executives from well-known Chinese institutions, including Tencent, Baidu, Huawei, Peking University, Tsinghua University, Fudan University, amongst others. The ministry is also asking for public feedback on the committee members until the deadline of May 12, 2020.

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Chinese Tech Company Tencent Launches Blockchain Accelerator

Tencent, the Chinese multinational conglomerate, announced, on April 29, 2020, the launch of its new blockchain accelerator which is now open to both mature and early-stage blockchain-based startups.

The company specifically mentioned that it is currently looking out for 30 co-builders for the position and has listed down 3 main criteria to apply for the application.

The blockchain-based startup needs to have certain technological advantages or must be in the mature stage.
Must have at least one financing round.
Personal status for CEO, Founder, Co-founder, COO, and CTO

The last date to apply for the application is June 6, 2020. They have named the blockchain accelerator behind their company’s name.

What is it all about?

The ‘Tencent Blockchain Accelerator’ will allow the selected projects to reap special benefits like four mentoring meetings every year, a rich network of industry experts, and the opportunity to learn more about the international blockchain community.

Apart from all these perks, the selected projects will also get access to Tencent’s blockchain-as-a-service platform for free for one whole year. The cost of tuition for this opportunity is RMB 100,000 ($14,150) per person excluding the cost of international visits.

Tencent Blockchain Accelerator will look into interest areas like smart contract security, multi-party governance mechanisms, trusted identity, and consensus algorithms. It will also focus on a number of recruiting areas in blockchain industries that are dealing with data sharing, digital asset transactions, supply chain finance, trusted certificate, manufacturing, agriculture, and public welfare.

Futuristic Outlook of Tencent

Tencent has always been the aggressive one when it came to implementing and leveraging new technologies to make the first-mover advantage in any industry. Blockchain technology is no exception.

As reported by Blockchain.News, WeBank, of which Tencent owns a majority share, is leading the global banking community in banking technology patents jumping ahead of US giants JP Morgan Chase and Bank of America with 632 filed patents in 2019.

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China’s WeBank Makes its First Move to Take its Blockchain Global, Partnering with Singapore's OpenNodes

China’s top digital bank WeBank has announced its partnership with Singaporean government-backed OpenNodes. This partnership will allow China’s FISCO BCOS blockchain platform to be brought to Singaporean academics for innovation and new initiatives. FISCO BCOS was deemed to be China’s version of Hyperledger Fabric when it was launched in 2018.

The Financial Blockchain Shenzhen Consortium (FISCO) is backed by more than 100 Chinese organizations, including Huawei, Tencent, JD Finance, and WeBank, which is partly backed by Tencent. Developed by FISCO, the enterprise blockchain protocol was the first blockchain to be supported by China’s Blockchain Service Network.

WeBank’s executive vice president and Chief Information Officer, Henry Ma said, “We seek to spur the next-generation talents into building viable solutions using blockchain to serve the general public. Providing this open-source technology as a developer arena will also help us strengthen the stack of our technologies in the process while allowing for better products and services for the general public.”

This also became the first move in taking FISCO BCOS international, which also support the Blockchain Services Network’s ambition to go global. The partnership aims to introduce Singapore’s university students to FISCO BCOS. Ma added, “Combining forces is the first stepping stone to expanding the consortium into Southeast Asia, and ensures we are well fed by a constant source of knowledge, technology expertise, and domain experience.”

As previously reported by Blockchain.News, the digital bank is leading the global banking community in banking technology patents climbing ahead of US giants JP Morgan Chase and Bank of America with 632 filed patents in 2019.

China’s international blockchain ambitions

China’s Blockchain Services Network (BSN), ChinaChain has been opened since late April for commercial use after six months of internal testing.

The Blockchain Services Network is built by a consortium of China’s biggest corporations including telecommunications companies and banks, connecting nodes in 128 cities in the country. Companies including China Mobile, China UnionPay, and Huobi China have also taken part in the creation of the BSN. The network also includes 7 areas outside of China including Paris, Sydney, San Paulo, Singapore, Tokyo, Johannesburg, and California. This would facilitate the interested parties to conduct business in China to be able to use the network and to follow the network’s rules.

Along with WeBank’s FISCO BCOS, Hyperledger Fabric, Ethereum, EOS, ChainSQL, and Baidu’s Xuperchain were also part of the plan to be added to the “ecosystem play,” and “internet environment,” as explained by Zhiguang Shan, the Chairman of the BSN’s Development Association. This network of blockchains will be available for those who are interested to take part in it, including small to medium-sized businesses.

OpenNodes: Encouraging engagement in blockchain

Tribe Accelerator announced the launch of its digital media and engagement platform, OpenNodes in August 2019. Founded by 25 founding members and led by Tribe Accelerator, OpenNodes is also supported by the Singapore Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA), as well as the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and Temasek. Yi Ming Ng, Managing Director of Tribe added, “All the stakeholders in the ecosystem have come together to collectively drive this blockchain ecosystem for more mass adoption to happen.” OpenNodes allows for more engagement and collaboration between the stakeholders in the blockchain ecosystem, allowing for a better reach of the audience, showcasing the use cases in the blockchain ecosystem.

OpenNodes is funded by Singapore’s Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA), along with other government stakeholders, as well as IBM, R3, ConsenSys, Ethereum, BMW, PwC, and Singapore stock exchange (SGX). Its aim is to support and educate corporates and connect them with technology solution providers.

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