Interview with Lian Ke | TOP Network &Haier Clothing Network, Leading the Blockchain to Empower the Real Economy
Moderator: Good afternoon everyone, I am the host of this event!
Today “Lian Ke Talk” invited Pengfei, Wu, General Manager of Haier Cloud Platform of Clothing Network, and Noah Wang, co-founder of TOP Network. Let’s discuss the topic of “TOP Network and Haier clothing network” with you.
Many people in the group may not know TOP Network very well. Could Noah introduce the vision of TOP Network and what the characteristics and advantages are of the TOP Network?
Noah Wang: Hello everyone, I am very glad to have the opportunity to share with the general manager Wu of Haier some topics about the combination of blockchain and the real economy. Today I represent the TOP Network. Everyone may have a question. What exactly is a public chain? What is the relationship between the public chain and the blockchain?
There are basically several types of blockchain technology that we usually talk about, including public chains, private chains, and alliance chains.
The public chain is literally understood as the meaning of public, it refers to the consensus blockchain that is open to everyone in the world, anyone can read data on this chain, send transactions, and transactions can be effectively confirmed. On the public chain, each node can freely join and leave the network, and participate in the reading and writing of data on the chain. In addition, there are no centralized server nodes in the network. For example, Bitcoin, which everyone is familiar with, and Ethereum are public chains. Because there are no restrictions, anyone can join.
Then TOP Network is also one of the well-known public chain projects. Our vision is to become a basic public chain platform capable of supporting massive high-frequency business on-chain, thereby promoting the large-scale implementation of blockchain technology. Public chain has these characteristics:
◆ Low barriers to access
As long as you have a computer, as long as the computer can be connected to the Internet, you can access it.
◆ Data is transparent and cannot be tampered with
The public chain is a highly decentralized distributed ledger, everyone’s behavior can be viewed at any node, and based on the huge user system, it is almost impossible to tamper with transaction data.
◆ Anonymity
Because nodes do not need to trust each other, all operations can be performed anonymously, which protects the privacy of users well.
◆ Free from developers
The reading and writing of public chain data is not controlled and tampered by anyone, and even program developers have no right to interfere with users. Therefore, users are largely protected from the influence of program developers.
A private chain is a non-public “chain”. Generally, authorization is required to join a node, and the write permissions of each node in the private chain are strictly controlled, and the read permissions can be selectively opened to the public according to demand . Therefore, in general, private chains are suitable for financial scenarios such as internal data management and auditing of specific organizations. Especially in some cases, some rules on the private chain can be modified by the organization, such as the service that restores the entire transaction process, like Ant Financial is actually a very typical representative of the application of the private chain.
What are the characteristics of private chains?
◆ Fast transaction speed
As long as there are a small number of nodes on the private chain, it can run, and the trust is very high. Transactions do not need to be confirmed by all network nodes, so its transaction speed is faster than any other blockchain.
◆ Good privacy protection
Because the read permission is determined by the organization, it is difficult for participants to obtain data on the private chain, so the organization’s own privacy protection is better.
◆ Significant reduction in transaction costs
Private chain transactions only need to be confirmed by several generally recognized high computing power nodes, and the transaction costs are relatively low compared to public and alliance chains.
◆ High security
The members on the chain are authorized by review, so the possibility of malicious attacks is relatively small.
However, there are also problems with private chains: for example, permissions are controlled by a few nodes, which cannot solve the problem of cheating at all, and deviate from the original intention of decentralization; in addition, data on the private chain may be manipulated and code may be modified.
The alliance chain refers to a blockchain that is jointly managed by multiple institutions. Each organization or institution manages one or more nodes, and its data only allows different institutions in the system to read, write and send. Each node of the alliance chain usually has a corresponding physical organization, and can only join and exit the network after authorization. All agencies and organizations form a coalition of related interests to jointly maintain the healthy operation of the blockchain.
The alliance chain is suitable for organizational transactions and settlements. At present, the more influential alliance chains in China include China Distributed Ledger Basic Agreement Alliance (ChinaLedger), China Blockchain Research Alliance (CBRA), and Weizhong Bank.
Alliance chain characteristics:
To some extent, in fact, the alliance chain also belongs to the private chain, but it has different degrees of privacy, and its permission design requirements are more complicated and credible.
TOP Network is a real public chain, and it is a public chain with great technological innovation and breakthroughs. As we all know, the biggest technical bottleneck of the public chain is transaction congestion and slow confirmation speed. For example, Bitcoin can only process 7 transactions per second, and Ethereum can only process 10 or more transactions. Such a speed obviously cannot adapt to real applications.
However, TOP Network has greatly improved the throughput of the blockchain through sharding technology. The speed of a single shard can reach 100,000 TPS, which means that it can process 100,000 transactions per second. This speed is faster than that of banks. The transfer is about 10 times faster, which is almost close to the processing speed of the centralized e-commerce platform. Sharding technology is also an expansion method adopted by Ethereum 2.0, but TOP Network is the first public chain in the world to fully implement sharding, which is more than two years ahead of Ethereum 2.0. Currently, Ethereum 2.0 is still being planned. .
In addition to technological breakthroughs, there are already three APPs in TOP Network ecosystem: Dingtone, CoverMe, and Bitvpn. At present, these three APPs have more than 100 million overseas users. Later, these APPs will be transparently migrated to the TOP Network to enrich the ecosystem. This is also one of the biggest advantages of TOP Network compared with other public chain projects.
Moderator: As we all know, public chains and alliance chains are working on the large-scale implementation of the blockchain. However, there are really few public chain projects that can be implemented. As a well-known public chain project, which industries or fields have TOP deployed to achieve large-scale blockchain implementation? What policy does TOP use to attract traditional companies to go online?
Noah Wang: Realizing the large-scale landing of the blockchain is something we have been advancing. The first is that we have resolved the bottlenecks that limit the implementation of blockchain technology in terms of technology. TOP Network has a very high TPS and security, coupled with the fast on-chain transaction confirmation speed and zero transaction costs. It is particularly suitable for communication, Massive high-frequency services such as games, social networking, big data, artificial intelligence, and IoT are on the chain. Therefore, these aspects will become the domain of our layout in the future.
Secondly, we are also actively constructing our own public chain ecosystem. For example, we have launched the digital asset wallet HiWallet, and opened the TOP Staking entrance in the wallet to facilitate users to participate in our TOP Staking. With the improvement of more additional functions in the later period, it will inevitably become a traffic entrance. At the same time, we are also actively deploying blockchain mini games and large games. These will become a part of TOP Network ecosystem, and also one of the landing directions of the TOP Network.
In addition, these existing communication and security apps will be migrated to TOP Network in the later stage. This is also one of the best scenarios for the implementation of TOP Network technology..
Of course, there is another aspect that we will also actively expand application scenarios, provide blockchain technology support for enterprises or institutions, and make blockchain technology truly empower the real economy. The real economy that blockchain technology can empower has roughly three general directions:
The first is storage, which record information on the blockchain, but there is no asset transfer, such as electronic invoices, poverty alleviation, electronic medical records, copyright confirmation, and anti-counterfeiting traceability.
The second is value transfer, such as digital bills and supply chain finance.
The third is the authorization management, which uses smart contracts to control data access, such as government unit data sharing, medical data sharing, and credit reporting.
Of course, with the further development of blockchain technology, the directions that can be empowered may be far more than these. Therefore, the large-scale implementation of blockchain technology is only a matter of time. The most important thing for us to do public chain projects is to practice “internal strength” and find more application scenarios.
As for how to attract business to the chain, it must first be technical protection. Secondly, in terms of development path, we have changed the way of general public chain projects. We give up the practice of pulling third-party developers as soon as the main chain mainnet goes live. Our strategy is to move from “ecological closed loop” to “ecological openness”, that is, to rely on our own strength to improve our public chain ecology, and then to attract third-party developers’ business on-chain. Of course, this is not what any public chain can do. The main reason we can implement is that we have real applications and a large number of real users.
Therefore, our rule is to gradually migrate these communication security applications that we have already implemented to the TOP Network. Letting more than 100 million users unknowingly use blockchain technology will also bring a lot of business and users to our entire TOP Network ecosystem. After we have users, we will start to “eco-open” to attract third parties to develop applications on the TOP Network. For developers, our mass users will become a big attraction. This is the biggest difference between us and other blockchain projects, and it has the most potential.
Moderator: As far as I know, there are many synergies between TOP Network and Haier in terms of technology application scenarios. So what advantages of TOP Network can empower Haier?
Noah Wang: First of all, we have had a lot of communication with Haier, including Pengfei Wu, as well as some of senior leaders in Haier. I think there are still many needs for Haier’s current development, including the Internet of Things, the Internet of Clothing, and artificial intelligence. These will have a very large synergy effect with blockchain technology.
In terms of technology, TOP Network completely solves the problem of insufficient public chain performance through sharding technology, and can provide enterprise-level blockchain solutions, meet the commercial needs of enterprise-level applications in many aspects such as performance, permissions, security, privacy, reliability, scalability, and operation and maintenance.
I visited Haier’s №1 store in Qingdao a few years ago, and I was very impressed. From entering the store to checkout, it is completely an IoT ecosystem. These ecosystems control the needs of customers. In fact, these data can be chained. And after the data is uploaded, both the user and Haier can get security and privacy protection.
Specifically, through the close integration with TOP Network technology, the production and circulation records of clothing in the entire industrial supply chain are stored on the blockchain. Whether it is a manufacturer, distributor, or consumer, you can see all the circulation information of clothing products through trusted records, so as to open up the upstream and downstream of the industrial chain, reach the ends of the BC, and comprehensively improve product quality and management efficiency.
It is also possible to establish a blockchain digital identity for each user through the TOP Network, and upload and confirm user privacy data and behavior data, effectively protecting user privacy, and giving users autonomy over data assets, providing users with rights protection.
Moderator: Noah Wang shared very wonderfully. Thank you very much. Could Mr. Wu answer the following questions? As a giant in the traditional industry, Haier has recently started to get involved in the blockchain industry through the Haier Clothing Network. Then, could you also introduce what exactly is the clothing network?
Mr. Wu: Good afternoon, everyone. I’m Peng Fei from Clothing Network. I am honored to be invited by the Lian Ke to share some of our explorations of Clothing Network of the blockchain with Wang. To put it simply, the Clothing Network relies on RFID, 5G, AI, and blockchain technology to give clothing a digital identity and manage the entire life cycle of clothing. Our original intention is to build intelligent relationships between users and clothing. On the one hand, we can provide some data empowerment for clothing or clothing-related customers; on the other hand, we will provide users with the best dressing experience. For this purpose, we divide the circulation of clothing into four physical spaces: fields, factories, stores, and homes. Among them, the family is divided into five scenes: washing, protecting, storing, picking up, and buying. A clothing industry cloud platform for the entire industry. At the same time, we have also laid out new species of smart homes such as smart fitting mirrors and smart closets in the home, as well as exploration of new business models of clothing and smart homes that are currently being made. For example, Haier’s recently opened offline experience store.
At the same time, we will also invest and incubate some companies in clothing technology innovation. For example, the dry intelligence in Hangzhou, our own Yunshang IoT, and Wuxi Pinguan. In fact, in terms of the entire form, the clothing network is a big layout around our overall clothing industry.
Moderator: In terms of the implementation of blockchain technology, not only are blockchain companies working hard, but also inseparable from the deep cooperation of traditional enterprises, and companies like Haier are also actively embracing blockchain. Mr. Wu, please introduce. What role does blockchain technology play in Haier’s clothing network? What are the obvious changes compared with the use of blockchain technology in clothing networking?
Mr. Wu: If the successful application of Internet technology has brought the world into the information age and formed a global amount of information, then the emergence of blockchain technology may become the landing of the future value era. The information age has greatly reduced the cost of people’s access to and use of information, and hastened the development of human civilization. The value age will greatly reduce the cost of trust and friction in people’s production and life, and it is possible to shape new social values and resource allocation . I think blockchain will create a brand new production relationship in the future.
Therefore, Haier has also built a value-added sharing chain, based on Haier’s “single-in-one” model and blockchain technology, to create a landing for the entire process of industry users pay. Probably, the salaries of all our employees should come from the user’s salary, not the company’s salary to those who work.
Including R & D department, production department, design department, and after-sales department, everyone worked together to create value for users and then they were shared. How to achieve this sharing mechanism? We use the blockchain to complete the gambling contract on the ex-chain, implement sharing on the inter-chain, and add value to the ecosystem after the event to achieve self-grabbing, self-optimization, and high sharing of the entire industry chain.
Haier’s value-added sharing chain can share the contribution points of the entire process of the industry through smart contracts. Each value-added sharing coefficient is assigned to each contribution point. When each user goal is completed, all contribution points of the entire process are automatically shared in real time according to the value-added coefficient. In order to achieve the full enthusiasm of participants in the industry’s full link, reduce the friction of cooperation, unify the goals and the effect of increasing ecological income, and ultimately realize the concept of user pay.
In fact, this is a demand initiated by centralized leadership. It is our marketing department that initiates a whole demand to re-optimize the entire node. Through the smart contract model of the blockchain, all people, all departments, all nodes, and all companies are put on the chain, and then the contract is reached.
The value-added sharing chain is currently in Haier and has been extensively piloted. The number of chain groups signed on the chain exceeded 100, covering a wide range of user service groups, including raw material production, quality design services, and sales experience. By signing a gambling contract in advance, all parties can grasp the ultimate user goals; Real-time data shows that pre-actual difference tracking can be achieved. When the contract is reached, value-added sharing will be implemented to achieve a win-win situation after the fact.
Moderator: Yes, Mr. Wu introduced very detailed, there are two questions next. What is the cost of adding blockchain technology to Clothing Network? How has it changed from previous operating costs and benefits? This question is a lot of concern for entrepreneurs listening to you.
Mr. Wu: We haven’t conducted detailed statistics on costs. But many costs are actually hidden. We are making a complete set of balcony scenes, including washing machines and drying racks. The entire product is sold together, and its goal is far beyond our goal for the market at that time. This task motivates us to complete the mechanism of the chain group contract in the entire blockchain chain group.
In fact, last year, all the members of the entire participating chain group should have been shared, and we far exceeded the company’s determination of market goals. At the same time, there is also a reduction in hidden costs. In the past, all of our departmental coordination meetings will have leaders to participate, because a central decision maker is needed to set prices and sales targets. In fact, the use of the chain group contract model will actually stimulate more. The subjective initiative of man.
For the sales task of the entire balcony scene, the departmental coordination meeting is greatly reduced, because the application scenario of the entire product, not only the washing machine but also covers such as clothes dryers, ironing boards, drying racks, and third-party partner manufacturers Some of our products have improved the efficiency of our cooperation with other external companies and our channel partners as a whole, and reduced the number of centralized decisions.
At the same time, the adjustment of prices, such as the adjustment of supply prices and the adjustment of the entire supply chain system, are the result of self-optimization through smart contracts on the chain, which also greatly reduces our hidden costs, and ultimately stimulates us through the chain group contract model. The initiative of the entire chain group has created more value for the entire enterprise and all personnel in the entire chain group. I think this is one of our biggest experiences in using the blockchain.
Moderator: You have one final question to answer separately. Mr. Wu, what is the vision of Haier Clothing Network? At what stage now?
Mr. Wu: The vision of the Clothing Network, I actually just talked about it earlier, that is, fields, factories, stores, homes, collection and washing, maintenance, storage, pickup, purchase, in fact, for the entire industry, some physical space and application scenarios It will still be clearer. In fact, we hope that after the entire clothing network is completed, the entire clothing industry may change. For example, the first store may already include services such as clothing customization, coffee, and laundry detergent.
However, as far as the completion of the clothing network is concerned, there will be some changes in the entire clothing industry’s supply chain, design and production, and all popular trends. Then the entire production and logistics may be based on your preference for color and the entire dressing experience, and you will be given a tailor-made shirt to your doorstep. This may be a scene that the Internet of Things will really make in the future, but there may be more scenes, because we have made corresponding layouts in the entire smart store, smart manufacturing, and smart logistics. But now it will still be divided according to the physical scene. In the end, all the data in the physical space may have been fused and unblocked. This should be the best clothing wearing experience for users. At present, our clothing network has more than 5,000 ecological resources to join us in 13 fields including the entire clothing brand, washing machine brand, RFID technology, including Blue Moon, Hailan House, Mercury Home Textiles, Wanshili and so on. At the same time, there are more than 30,000 smart stores on our entire platform. There are 610 million pieces of clothing-related data collected on RFID tags. This is a status quo on our entire platform.
Moderator: There are still two last questions, which will be answered by Noah Wang and Pengfei Wu in turn. The first problem is the same as the development path of the Internet in various places and industries. The technology is driven by the “Internet +”. When the industry consensus reaches a certain level, it will enter a relatively mature stage, which is the industry. The “+ Internet” era. According to this development path, what else is there to go from “blockchain +” to “+ blockchain”?
Noah Wang: Maybe many people know that the concept of blockchain has been popular since 17 years. At that time, the outbreak of the entire blockchain industry also led to the development of many technologies. At the same time, many legal and regulatory issues have been raised. Until now, although the blockchain technology has developed to a certain degree, it has not been implemented on a large scale.
Therefore, I believe that the current application of blockchain in China is still a fragmented stage. There is still a process of integration with the industry. There are still legal and regulatory issues that need to be sorted out, as well as industrial foundation issues. Socio-economic related theoretical changes.
The development of emerging technologies such as the Internet of Things, cloud computing, big data, and artificial intelligence has allowed our advanced productive forces and production materials to mutually promote each other and also have a prominent effect on local economic development. Therefore, in theory, the application cycle of the blockchain may be accelerated, but according to the socio-economic theory, it must adapt to the development of production relations and productivity, so its development speed is also uncertain. However, during the two sessions in 2018, the representatives of the two sessions discussed the application of the blockchain, and they really have high expectations on the premise that the blockchain serves the real economy.
Especially after October 24 last year, national leaders set a very good tone for blockchain technology. Blockchain technology can quickly give the real economy in China, making our entire “blockchain +” industry And development got very good help. When the blockchain technology becomes as common as the Internet, it may enter the era of “+ blockchain”. Of course, this process can take years or even decades.
Mr. Wu: As Noah said, the use of blockchain in China is still a fragmented stage, and there is still a process of integrating with the industry. In the early stage, the blockchain mainly used a lot of good applications in the financial industry, such as electronic money and certificate deposits, which really solved the problems of many industries for the financial industry. For the Internet of Things industry, this technology can empower users’ scenarios and what problems are actually solved, then this technology can go to Clothing Network. The smart home scene is actually very rich, because it is closely related to everyone’s life and has great potential. But as the saying goes, everything is difficult at the beginning, just like when Jack Ma founded the Ali Group, many people who are interested in e-commerce and people with lofty ideals, and some people with resources have invested in this industry. Now the industry is very Bustling. Therefore, I also hope that some people with lofty ideals will find a scenario that is closely integrated with blockchain technology in Clothing Network industry, and put it into practice to create value for users.
Moderator: Last question, Mr. Wu and Noah, please share with the group some suggestions for grasping the future of blockchain technology!
Mr. Wu: Every industry has its own difficulties and characteristics. I found that recently, because everyone is focusing on cryptocurrency, such as speculation. In 19 years, there may be some big changes. After some smart contract scenarios come out, everyone will do some online businesses like certificate storage and electronic signatures. Of course, we include Haier, as well as some external companies.
In fact, everyone hopes to use the blockchain in more scenarios. Such as logistics, Internet of Things, and so on. I feel that the blockchain electronic currency is very mature now, but in some traditional industries, such as IoT or the manufacturing industry, how the blockchain is used may not be very clear. I think there may still be an exploration, and we must have an attitude of exploration.
At the same time, it is necessary to combine its own business scene and large-scale use in its entire field. You can find some ways to integrate with blockchain technology. If you have data, I think you can use blockchain. Blockchain technology will have better scenarios.
Moderator: Thank you, Mr. Wu for sharing, and finally, please ask Mr. Wang for your suggestions
Noah Wang: Mr. Wu just talked very well. I think that the blockchain is actually well-established and sufficient in the financial field.
Blockchain has been applied or tested in the financial field of payment and settlement, credit financing, securities, insurance and other subdivisions, and is gradually extending to the real economy. Blockchain + industrial manufacturing, blockchain + food traceability, blockchain + medical treatment, blockchain + copyright, blockchain + logistics, blockchain + real estate are all actively developing. Therefore, I think it is an inevitable trend for many traditional companies to embrace blockchain. However, traditional enterprises combined with the blockchain industry upgrade also need to consider:
First, what is the purpose of using blockchain? According to different implementations and different purposes, the current application of blockchain technology can be divided into three types of scenarios:
1. Value transfer. Digital asset transfers between different accounts, such as cross-border payments;
2. Deposit certificate. Record information in the blockchain, but no asset transfer;
3. Authorization management. Use smart contracts to control data access, such as data sharing.
Second, how can companies combine technology with blockchain characteristics? What we need to understand is that blockchain is not a panacea, but its technical characteristics make it highly valuable in limited scenarios.
First, it stems from the needs of database application scenarios. In essence, the blockchain is a new type of database with a timestamp. Judging from the organization’s requirements for data authenticity, validity, unforgeability and non-tamperability, it is a new starting point and new requirement compared to traditional databases.
Second, it needs to be a multi-party application scenario. When multiple entities maintain their own books, data is often inconsistent due to lack of data sharing and unification of business logic. On the contrary, each entity in the blockchain can have a complete copy of the books, which ensures the consistency of data between multiple parties through instant settlement and settlement, avoiding complex reconciliation processes.
Finally, it is suitable for building mathematical-based trust in untrusted environments. Blockchain technically guarantees the system’s data credibility (cryptographic algorithm, digital signature, time stamp), result credibility (smart contract, formula algorithm) and historical credibility (chain structure, time stamp). Blockchain provides “machine intermediary”, which is suitable for industry applications where partners are unreliable, interests are inconsistent, or lack of authoritative third-party intervention.
Moderator: Thank you two guests for the wonderful sharing, so that everyone has a clearer understanding of the application of blockchain technology, and the development trend of the implementation of blockchain.
