Chinese tech hub Shenzhen and its neighbour Hong Kong will jointly launch a verification platform for cross-border data, the latest step in the Greater Bay Area (GBA) to forge deeper ties in finance and other areas by easing data flows.
The platform aims to help organisations verify the credibility of cross-order data based on the blockchain, and it is expected to run trials in cross-border finance between Shenzhen and Hong Kong as the first phase when it becomes operational, according to a report by the official Shenzhen Special Zone Daily on Wednesday.
The Bank of China and the Bank of East Asia will be among the first batch of financial institutes to use the platform, according to the report.
Upon completion, the platform will be applied beyond the financial industry with applications in various scenarios that can benefit residents in both cities with cross-border work and life, the report said.
Built on distributed data transfer protocols (DDTP) and the mainland blockchain platform FISCO BCOS, the verification platform itself does not transfer or store cross-border data, according to the report. It will simply conduct the verification process based on the hash value of the data.
The development of the platform will start from the Shenzhen side, through a partnership involving China (Qianhai) Internet Exchange, Shenzhen Credit, Hong Kong Science and Technology Park and Shenzhen’s WeBank, according to the report.
The project was announced on Wednesday at the Shenzhen International Fintech Festival held in Qianhai, a special economic zone in Shenzhen, the southern tech hub in Guangdong province that neighbours Hong Kong.
It marks a further step forward in data cooperation across the GBA, Beijing’s plan to unite Hong Kong, Macau and nine cities in Guangdong into an economic powerhouse by 2035.
The Shenzhen-Hong Kong project will follow the launch of a cross-border verification platform between Guangdong province and Macau last March. Macau residents have been able to verify their local personal assets through the platform to facilitate their credit service at a mainland bank.
The Guangdong-Macau platform has brought major Chinese banks on board, including Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, China Construction Bank and the Bank of China’s Macau branch, according to the official website.