[Recommended] The competition for blockchain! A detailed analysis of the blockchain strategic layout of the three giants BAT

Rage Commentary : With the continuous development of blockchain technology, it has also attracted great attention from domestic BAT companies. As the three leading Chinese BAT companies, how Alibaba, Baidu, and Tencent will create "sparks" with blockchain is worthy of attention from domestic and foreign industry professionals. Relying on their own unique advantages, BAT companies have already sounded the rallying call for the layout of blockchain. Who will take the lead in blockchain will remain to be seen.

Author: Amber Dingding

The development of China's Internet industry is inseparable from the strong promotion and support of the BAT Internet "giants" behind it. As the three pillars of China's BAT enterprises, some people have raised such questions. Internet technology companies represented by Baidu, Alibaba, Tencent, and JD.com have combined their own advantages to gradually embed finance into various life scenarios, such as Baidu's traffic extension, Tencent's social finance, and Alibaba's long-tail users. These products are not only improving user experience, but also constantly building their own closed-loop ecosystems. Why Internet companies (such as Baidu, Tencent, Alibaba, etc.) have not participated in blockchain investment and product development, and what plans BAT companies have are all attracting attention from the outside world.

Many traditional industries in China have begun to pay attention to blockchain. For example, Ping An, a traditional financial institution, has begun to pay attention to blockchain and joined the R3 Alliance. Wanxiang Group, which focuses on traditional industries, has also established the Wanxiang Blockchain Laboratory and stated that it will further explore and research blockchain. Traditional enterprises attach so much importance to blockchain, so how do BAT companies, which are at the forefront of the Internet, participate in blockchain? In which fields will blockchain be brought into full play? Will BAT companies be the "killer app" of blockchain? With these questions, we found some "clues".

Tencent and Huawei join financial blockchain alliance

On the afternoon of May 31, 2016, the Financial Blockchain Cooperation Alliance (Shenzhen), which focuses on the application of blockchain in finance, was formally established. The alliance brings together 31 companies including WeBank, Ping An Bank, CMB Network, Hang Seng Electronics, JD Finance, Tencent, Huawei, Silver Chain Technology, Shenzhen Financial Information Service Association, etc., of which 25 are initiators and 6 institutions including Tencent and Huawei have joined as member units.

Among the members of the Golden Chain Alliance, 70% are financial institutions and 30% are financial technology companies and Internet companies. The blockchain alliance organization promoted by financial institutions will enable applications to be implemented faster.

Speaking of the origin of Tencent and Internet finance, Tencent has entered the financial field for ten years, marked by the establishment of Tenpay in September 2005. In the past, Tencent's strategic positioning for financial business was to seize channels and traffic entrances, and expand channels and entrances through cooperation. This approach is conducive to the use of Tencent's traditional resource advantages, but lacks consistent product development and real market share. As time goes by, Tencent Finance's "full license" layout is gradually completed. After completing the construction of a closed-loop financial ecosystem, the key to Tencent Finance's future lies in the mining of its own data resources and the construction of application scenarios. In the field of Internet finance, Tencent has laid out nine major business sectors, with its own strategic plans in payment, loans, wealth management, insurance, securities, banks, credit reporting, funds, and crowdfunding. This time, it joined the Financial Blockchain Alliance, using blockchain as a link. Its related business sectors, such as WeBank, are already exploring how to combine with blockchain to better play its advantages.

Ant Financial is about to launch blockchain technology

At the first global XIN charity conference held in Hangzhou, Ant Financial, a subsidiary of Alibaba, said at the "Internet Charity" forum that blockchain technology will soon be launched and will first be applied to Alipay's charity donation platform. Due to the advantages of blockchain technology itself, it is believed to help solve the transparency and trust issues of charity in the entire Chinese society. Ant Financial said that the blockchain technology that will be launched will be used on the Alipay charity donation platform, with the aim of recording the life cycle of each payment on the blockchain.

Blockchain technology is a new technology that promotes trust and enhances openness and transparency. On the Alipay Charity Donation Platform, users often donate from a few yuan to several hundred yuan, but the donations cannot be tracked after they enter the charity project account. Using blockchain technology, the life cycle of each payment is recorded on the blockchain, and users can continue to trace it.

Engineers from Ant Financial said that they initially developed this system just to use technology to solve a “small problem” in user experience. The technical staff patiently polished it, and although it was meaningful, there was no “benefit” to speak of.

Ant Financial President Jing Xiandong said earlier that as a cutting-edge financial technology, what can blockchain technology bring us? We understand it as security. I have said on different occasions that Fin represents financial capabilities, and tech represents technical capabilities, using technology to strengthen and improve our risk management capabilities. Fin is in front, and tech is in the back. Fin represents that the essence of finance has not changed. Tech is used to strengthen risk management, help us improve efficiency, improve service efficiency, innovation efficiency, pricing efficiency, and risk management efficiency, and make us stronger. This is very important. Therefore, we must maintain a financial awe of Fintech. Fintech is a combination of finance and technology, and it uses technology to make us do better.

Baidu strategically invests in Circle, Baidu Finance may become the focus

  As one of the giants of BAT, Baidu started out as the first Chinese search engine, with portal and platform advantages, as well as significant scientific research capabilities. It also possesses internationally advanced technologies such as big data and artificial intelligence, and is expected to make full use of technology to change the entire process and production methods of finance. Baidu's overseas investments have always focused on dark horse companies with innovative technologies and innovative models.

Previously, Circle announced that it had received a $60 million Series D investment from a Chinese consortium, led by IDG, followed by industry giants such as Baidu, CICC, Everbright Investment Management, Wanxiang and CreditEase. Prior to this, Circle had received four rounds of financing. In the $50 million Series C financing completed in April 2015, Circle received investment from Goldman Sachs and IDG Capital. Data shows that Circle's users come from 150 countries and its annual transaction volume is nearly $1 billion.

As a payment application company, Circle's payment, especially social payment, based on blockchain technology is very inspiring for the next generation of Internet payment upgrades. Payment is the infrastructure that runs through the financial system. The rapid evolution of payment methods can drive the transformation of the entire financial system. Circle's blockchain-based payment application is a revolutionary payment method for the future financial form.

It can be seen that Baidu Finance's layout has always been forward-looking. Its Baidu Wallet has been extended to various application scenarios of Baidu. Future upgrades in the payment field will be crucial to Baidu's overall control of the overall situation. Baidu's layout of blockchain also demonstrates that it attaches great importance to technological innovation. Breakthrough technology will have a greater driving force for Baidu Finance. Relying on its own big data and artificial intelligence to gradually extend the entire Baidu internal system, Baidu's financial ecosystem is also accelerating its development.