South Korea’s blockchain technology application: There are still “pain points” such as lack of standards

China Energy Storage Network: With the hot integration of blockchain technology and the financial industry in China, what is the current situation in South Korea? Lee Chun-heng, CEO of Raonsecure, a blockchain company that has applied blockchain technology to Shinhan Financial Group in South Korea, said that the financial field is undoubtedly the first track for the application of blockchain technology, but it still faces "pain points" such as few participating institutions and ununified standards.

Reporter Zhang Honglei, Editor Zhao Qiao, China Business News

2018 is considered the first year for the application of blockchain technology, and the application in the financial field is regarded as a hot spot for the application of blockchain technology. According to the reporter of "Daily Economic News", in recent months, many Chinese industry giants have successively combined financial business with blockchain: Ant Financial said it would target cross-border remittances using blockchain; Jiufu Technology announced the establishment of its AI and blockchain company; Suning Consumer Finance successfully connected to Suning Alliance Chain through independent deployment of nodes; JD.com promoted the independent deployment of alliance chain; Tencent Cloud and Huaxia Bank jointly launched a supply chain financial platform based on blockchain technology, etc.

In the context of the hot integration of blockchain technology and the financial industry in China, what is the current situation in South Korea? Recently, a reporter from the Daily Economic News exclusively interviewed Lee Chun-heng, CEO of Raonsecure, a blockchain company that has applied blockchain technology to Shinhan Financial Group in South Korea. In his opinion, the financial field is undoubtedly the first track for the application of blockchain technology, but it still faces "pain points" such as few participating institutions and ununified standards.

South Korea also lacks real blockchain experts

Reading is one of Li Chunheng's habits. Recently, he has become more enthusiastic about blockchain knowledge. He used to read one book a week, but now he is reading more and more books. "I usually go out at 7 am and go to work at 8 am. I have meetings at the company in the morning and attend forums outside in the afternoon. My work schedule is relatively fixed. I read 5 books about blockchain in one go last week." When Li Chunheng mentioned this to the reporter of Daily Economic News, his expression showed some pride.

This reading rhythm stems from the lack of in-depth blockchain content in the current market. Li Chunheng said that the global blockchain is just beginning, and the technical reserves of various countries are similar. Although there are many exchanges and conferences in the industry, the lack of truly professional blockchain experts and content homogeneity cannot be ignored.

Different from many people's attitude towards the widespread application of blockchain technology, Li Chunheng believes that after occupying the high ground in the financial field, blockchain technology will have certain opportunities in the logistics industry.

Raonsecure, founded in 2012, is the company with the largest market share in the field of biometric authentication in South Korea. It has its own solutions in providing biometric authentication, password authentication, security services, researching security technologies, and cultivating security talents. Its leader, Lee Chun-heng, has more than 20 years of experience in the field of security encryption. He began to study blockchain technology two or three years ago and introduced his own blockchain technology to the Korean market in 2017. In 2018, he applied blockchain encryption technology and blockchain + biometric authentication technology to Shinhan Financial Group, a Korean financial institution.

"After the application of blockchain technology, the security and satisfaction of financial institutions have been further improved." Li Chunheng told reporters that at present, in addition to Raonsecure, some Korean companies have also made arrangements for blockchain + finance. For example, Samsung SDS has also begun to provide relevant blockchain technology to some Korean financial institutions. At present, the blockchain + financial market is very competitive, but it is not in a state of full and fierce competition. It is still in the early stage of market research. There are many participating companies, but no obvious echelon has been formed.

Currently, blockchain is like a band without instruments.

In Li Chunheng's view, the application of blockchain in the financial field has improved efficiency and security in many aspects. Countries have also developed leading and creative applications based on blockchain technology. At present, if South Korea's blockchain is to truly develop, it must participate in the construction of infrastructure and increase participation. Specifically in the financial industry, some associations and institutions are needed to take the lead in using blockchain technology to drive the development of the industry.

"Currently, there are very few financial institutions participating in the blockchain finance field. As a leading industry, it is not open enough. The current blockchain technology is like a band without instruments. The top priority for the development of blockchain is to establish global unified standards." Li Chunheng said that although Raonsecure has an early layout in the blockchain industry, it cannot call itself a leading company. The current bottleneck in the development of blockchain is the difficulty in unifying standards. This requires joint efforts from relevant government departments and enterprises to explore, which is also a prerequisite for enterprises to compete and identify leaders.

According to Li Chunheng's understanding, one of the most important factors in the application of blockchain technology in financial institutions is the government's policy and attitude. As a listed company on the New York Stock Exchange and the Korea Stock Exchange, Shinhan Financial Group has its own relatively independent management system and has a certain degree of flexibility in the process of using blockchain technology. Unlike listed companies, some financial institutions and financial-related associations that are closely related to government agencies will be subject to government intervention and restrictions when introducing blockchain technology.

"Many Korean companies also want to enter the Chinese market. For blockchain, both sides need to discuss and explore infrastructure, service provision and other aspects, and work together." When talking about the differences in the development of blockchain between the two countries, Li Chunheng said that China and South Korea have a relatively unified attitude towards ICO (initial coin offering), that is, they are cautious and conservative. However, in terms of support, the Chinese regulatory authorities are very willing to support some blockchain projects, while South Korea's support is less than that of China. In fact, South Korea is already prepared for blockchain technology and has relevant experts, and hopes that relevant policies will be introduced to accelerate the development of the blockchain industry.