Interview: Yifan He, chief executive officer at Red Date Technology

Elaborate on the growth of blockchain technology in the region and its trends.
Middle Eastern countries are, in many areas are leading the way in adopting blockchain technology. In recent years, blockchain technology in the region has seen rapid growth, which is also a result of the government support.

Regarding trends, we see Central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) as a major trend. The number of countries researching CBDCs is more than double of what we saw in 2021. Major countries like China, Australia, France, Japan and Malaysia, are currently conducting pilot projects. Increasing digitisation, the global pandemic and decline in cash usage have all contributed to the growing interest in CBDCs.

Another trend we are seeing is interest from traditional businesses in public blockchain technology, although they are still wary of public blockchains because they force businesses to be involved with cryptocurrencies. Many traditional IT companies are investing heavily in the blockchain industry but are skeptical about adopting it on large-scale. Public blockchains are popular with large enterprises but heavy and difficult to scale. In contrast, public blockchains offer open, transparent and decentralised solutions, but cryptocurrencies are expensive and volatile. Non-cryptocurrency public blockchains can be the solution that includes all the advantages of public blockchain technologies while removing the constraints imposed by cryptocurrencies.

What does BSN do?
The blockchain-based service network (BSN) aims to build a ‘one-stop shop’ for businesses to deploy blockchain applications easily and cost-effectively. It provides decentralised infrastructure for all IT systems to build the next generation of the Internet together.

What are the challenges you aim to resolve in the larger blockchain ecosystem?
The majority of IT systems today are private back-end systems, which are controlled by a single organisation. However, since businesses and individuals have become more demanding of systems that provide easy connectivity, data ownership control and transparency, private systems can no longer meet their needs. This is where public IT Systems are needed. With blockchain technology, we are building public IT systems that can be managed and controlled by a group of users instead of a single entity. Users will be able to control their own data and decide if and when they want to share personal information with third parties.

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