Blockchain patent applications are set to become effective in China from 1 February 2020. In anticipation for its release, the National Intellectual Property Administration (NIPA) in China have continued to clarify its guidelines.
This comes after the NIPA officially announced its revised guidelines at the end of last year to patent applications for new emerging technologies such as blockchain and artificial intelligence.
One example of the updated guidelines is a method and device for secure communication between blockchain nodes. The invention patent application proposes a blockchain node communication method and device that intends to solve the problem where privacy data is leaked by blockchain business nodes while communicating with each other. The guidelines read:
Before a business node in a blockchain establishes a communication connection, it can determine whether to establish a communication connection according to the CA certificate carried in the communication request and a pre-configured CA trust list. This reduces the possibility of business nodes leaking private data and improves the security of data stored in the blockchain.
Analysts have said:
The revision of the guidelines is a direct response to the needs of the development of blockchain. It also reflects China's strategic direction of strengthening intellectual property protection, by being more friendly towards patent applicants in these emerging fields.
All of this seems to herald the much-anticipated digital renminbi, as China has formally implemented a law governing cryptographic password management as part of its pre-release plans for its central bank digital currency. The Standing Committee of the 13th National People's Congress in China passed the law at the end of October 2019. The law divides passwords at large into three distinct categories, being; passwords, common passwords, and commercial passwords.
This all reminds us of Mark Zuckerberg in his most recent Senate hearing on Libra to ring true every day that Australia delay's work on a CBDC:
While we debate these issues, the rest of the world isn’t waiting. China is moving quickly to launch similar ideas in the coming months… If [we don't] innovate, our financial leadership is not guaranteed.