24th April Shenzhen– Tencent FiT ( payment infrastructure platform and financial application line) officially released whitepaper and a demo platform of its first blockchain product: TrustSQL. The white paper summarizes Tencent’s research in the field of blockchain for the first time, and introduces the trusted blockchain systematically. TrustSQL is designed to work with partners to promote the development of trusted Internet and to create a win-win blockchain ecosystem. ( TrustSQL whitepaper PDF download )

The Tencent blockchain platform will have diversified implementations in the following scenarios:

1. Proof of authentication;
2. Smart contract;
3. Shared economy;
4. Digital assets;
5. Shared ledger.

5 key scenarios of TrustSQL 

TrustSQL features high performance, high security, high speed access and efficient operation. Partners will have access to industrial-level blockchain infrastructure with more secure and equal services. On the New Year’s Eve in 2017, Tencent once again set a new world record – the Tencent FiT payment platform processed over 200,000 red envelope transactions per second concurrently. Relying on such management and development experience, the TrustSQL is capable of processing 10,000 transactions per second through a variety of model analysis and pressure test.

According to the white paper, the overall structure of TrustSQL is divided into three layers: the bottom layer is the Trust SQL platform that could be accessed via SQL and API, which is developed by Tencent independently. The middle layer , or the product service layer, is called Trust Platform, through which the aforementioned 5 scenarios could be deployed. The top layer is end-user-oriented and named as the Trust Application.

3 layers of TrustSQL

According to the report, TrustSQL has the following technical features:
1. Highly efficient and adaptive consensus algorithm developed independently by Tencent.
2. Optimization in signature algorithm, blockchain storage.
3. Confirmation in seconds.
4. SQL access supported
5. Hierarchy authorization, secure key management and user privacy protection.
6. Realtime and visualized operation management system.

TrustSQL demo platform

Tencent also reveals a demo platform , which is more like a block explorer. Query page only allows hash search. The micro-gold assets indicated by the demo made people wonder its connection between The Gold red envelope, which was beta tested on the 2017 New Years Eve. (See more at Could Bitcoin envelope overtake gold envelope?  )

Screenshot of TrustSQL demo platform

Judging from the website, the demo has 4 nodes: Tencent FiT, asset gateway, bank and business partner, representing different stakeholders in the system. 4 transaction categories are displayed on the explorer:

1. Asset redemption.
2. Receipt confirmation.
3. Initiate transfer
4. Asset application

Tencent’s release of blockchain platform soon became the headlines of Chinese community and generally highly rated.
Wu Guanggeng, co-founder of Bixin, spoke highly of the project via weibo:

The TrustSQL project is a milestone in terms of blockchain technology development as it’s the first blockchain platform by internet giants.
As a consortium blockchain, what does the TrustSQL mean for individual investors?
He said:

Individuals are not in a position to gain direct benefits from the platform with enterprises being the target clients. Therefore it is not relevant to personal investments. Individuals should focus more public blockchain assets and Bitcoin in particular. The event is more of market acknowledgement and education value, which could be reflected on the market as a whole.

Btcnightcat, COO of F2pool, raised his concern:

I think that any company with certain resources are capable of developing blockchain-based products. Tencent’s strength in development and operation is beyond doubt. The emergence of Tencent blockchain platform will bring significant impact on other existing blockchain applications.

As a listed company with market cap getting close to 30 billion USD, Tencent’s ambition is to boost its growth with the adoption of blockchain in the digital financial age. It’s overall a good news for the blockchain development. However, Tencent is also a competitor too strong to fight with. We shall wait and see if the the release of TrustSQL will disrupt or inspire more developments on public blockchain.