China may have banned cryptocurrencies on its territory, but blockchain technology remains a key priority area for the government. Its global ambitions in this space are just taking off with BSN Spartan Network, which is advertised to be open-source and free from the Chinese government’s snooping.
BSN’s Spartan Network
Blockchain-based Service Network (BSN), a project backed by the Chinese government, is planning to launch its first major international service, the Spartan Network, in August this year, BSN CEO Yifan He told CNBC in an interview.
He is also the CEO of Red Date Technology, one of the four founding members of BSN. Headquartered in Hong Kong, Red Date Technology is responsible for BSN’s daily operations, R&D, and maintenance.
The Spartan Network promises to bring a one-stop solution for the deployment of blockchain applications in the cloud to help businesses leverage the time and cost advantages. It will constitute a slew of public blockchains with non-crypto offerings, he explained.
A Non-Crypto Blockchain
A key feature of the Spartan Network will be an Ethereum-like blockchain infrastructure for the development and deployment of DApps. But unlike other blockchain networks, BSN will not operate through a cryptocurrency instead, it will use the US Dollar.
The BSN CEO agreed that not having cryptocurrencies in the BSN ecosystem is a big challenge in the blockchain industry, especially during the initial stages.
“The purpose of this is to drop the cost to use public chains to very minimal so that more traditional IT [information technology] systems and business systems can use public chains as part of their systems,” Red Date CEO said.
Government Links a Challenge
The company’s links with the Chinese government are another big challenge as it tries to expand to international markets. He said BSN is working with many western companies, and it will become open source immediately after the launch of Spartan Network in August 2022.
Users can inspect and verify the codes to be sure that the Chinese government has no backdoor access to the BSN or Spartan Network.
“People will say BSN is from China, it is dangerous. Let me emphasize, BSN Spartan will be open source … we will not access anything from our end,” the executive said.
Earlier, BSN integrated the Tezos protocol into its international portal, allowing developers to benefit from simplified development and deployment experience. BSN is also working on a project to build a universal digital payment network (UDPN) by integrating CBDCs from various countries. Over the next five years, it will work with international banks and technology companies to make this project a reality.