Red Date Technology, the firm building the government-backed blockchain platform Blockchain Services Network (BSN), announced on June 10 that it had completed a $30 million Series A funding round with various global investors.
Why it matters: Red Date is the architect of the BSN, China’s ambitious state-backed blockchain initiative aiming to establish an internet-like network for blockchain applications.
- Red Date has also launched its own blockchain projects, independent of the BSN. The new funds will likely provide the company resources to develop the products.
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Details: According to a statement released by Red Date on Thursday, the $30 million financing round was led by the Saudi Aramco-owned venture capital fund Prosperity7 Ventures and Hong Kong-based blockchain VC Kenetic Capital.
- Other investors included Swiss banking and financial services company Pictet Group, and Bangkok Bank, a leading banking firm in Thailand. Existing shareholder Blueprint Forest LP also participated in the round.
- Red Date CEO Yifan He said in the statement that the BSN is the first effort to connect public and private ledgers at the enterprise level. He added that the BSN will allow blockchain services to be accessible to small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and individuals around the world.
Context: In addition to serving as the main software architect of the BSN, Red Date is diversifying to become a heavyweight in China’s blockchain industry.
- In March, the company became a licensed reseller for American ledger company R3’s widely-used Corda enterprise blockchain. It plans to roll out an open version of the Corda blockchain on the BSN.
- Red Date also told TechNode in December 2020 that the company is working on two projects, a payment network and public chain, that capitalize on central bank digital currencies and stablecoins, digital currencies pegged to an outside asset such as a national currency or precious metal.
- Public blockchains—Casper, NEAR and Findora—were integrated into the BSN earlier this year, adding to a total of 20 blockchains hosted on the network.
- Telecom provider China Mobile and payments provider China UnionPay have invested in the BSN.
Blockchain Services Network (BSN)
What: A platform for blockchain development, bringing together cloud services and different chain protocols on city nodes.
Why: To reduce the cost of blockchain application design and deployment while powering communication between chains. It will be made available around the world through local cloud providers, ultimately creating a global internet of blockchains.
Who: It is part of the government’s Global Blockchain Strategy unveiled by Chinese President Xi Jinping in November 2019, spearheaded by the China State Information Center, China Mobile, China Union Pay, and Red Date Technology.