The People’s Bank of China (PBoC) has officially launched the testing phase of a blockchain trade finance platform, local news outlet Shanghai Securities News reported September 4.

The Shenzhen Central Sub-branch of the People’s Bank of China, the central bank of the People’s Republic of China, has entered the trial phase of the so-called “Bay Area Trade Finance Blockchain Platform” earlier than scheduled.

 

The platform is aimed at conducting trade and financing activities, such as accounts receivable and trade financing. At the same time, the platform provides a regulatory system for trade finance to enable real-time monitoring of various financial activities.

According to Shanghai Securities News, the platform plans to create an “open financial and trade ecosystem based on the Guangdong, Hong Kong, and Macau Bay Area.” The organizations involved in the platform include Bank of China, China Construction Bank, China Merchants Bank, Ping An Bank, Standard Chartered Bank, and BYD Co., Ltd.

 

The report states that the platform can “help banks to conduct business authenticity audit[s], reduce business costs, improve business efficiency, [and] prevent and control business risks,” as well as to assist regulators and strengthen information sharing between departments.

Earlier in August, Chinese insurance, banking, and financial services giant Ping An Insurance released a “White Paper on Smart Cities,” advocating for blockchain, AI, big data, and cloud computing technology development, promoting the creation of a “smart city.”

 

Back in July, the Ministry of Science and Technology of China announced that China would lead an international research group on the standardization of the Internet of Things (IoT) and blockchain technology, as Cointelegraph reported July 18.