Chinese internet court adopts blockchain smart contracts, processes 1.9 bn transactions

Yesterday, the Hangzhou local government announced that its blockchain judicial platform has adopted smart contracting. The platform, used by Hangzhou Internet Court, has also had over 1.98 billion transactions through its blockchain. The court was set up in 2017 as a dedicated area for dealing with disputes over e-commerce, online contracts, and internet copyright infringements. Just over a year ago, it launched its blockchain platform for evidence, developed by Gongdao Network Technology with support from Ant. Since the evidence is mostly digital, it can be stored immutably on the system linked to an authenticated ID.

Smart contracts for legal proceedings

Now, the blockchain platform has started using smart contracts. During a press conference yesterday, the Hangzhou Internet Court outlined their use for automation in filing, trials, and outcomes. Wang Jiangqiao, executive VP of the court, said: “In the case of contracts, after a traditional contract is signed, if one party defaults, the other party will spend a lot of time and effort to collect evidence and safeguard rights, and the rights protection cycle is long and costly. A smart contract is to compile the terms of a contract into computer code that runs automatically after the parties to the transaction sign.”

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