The innovations in the technological field have always aimed for the upliftment of our society!  It is for our great importance and benefit that the tremendous potential of the blockchain is getting recognition from the masses.

The past few years have witnessed mind-blowing growth in the technology of the blockchain, but it is still in its initial or latent phase. But the blockchain has recently won acceptance from the Apex body of one of the fastest growing countries.

The good news comes from China where the country’s Supreme People’s Court released rules on 7th September, clarifying the litigation procedures for courts newly formed to specialize in Internet-related cases. As a consequence, the internet courts will recognize digital data as shreds of evidence if they are verified by methods including digital signatures, timestamps, and blockchains.

The court in its judgment stated: “Internet courts shall recognize digital data that are submitted as evidence if relevant parties collected and stored these data via blockchain with digital signatures, reliable timestamps and hash value verification or via a digital deposition platform, and can prove the authenticity of such technology used.”

Similar developments around the world

This is not for the first time that a country has approved the use of evidence authenticated by the blockchain technology as legally binding. The U.S. state of Vermont signed a bill into law allowing digital records registered on a blockchain to be self-authenticating, in the year 2016.

The Vermont court’s decision stated: “A digital record electronically registered in a blockchain shall be self-authenticating pursuant to Vermont Rule of Evidence 902, if it is accompanied by a written declaration of a qualified person, made under oath, stating the qualification of the person to make the certification…”

The British Government isn’t lurking behind China as it revealed plans of running a blockchain trial which would see digital evidence stored on a blockchain.

How does the system work?

The blockchain-based model was implemented in China’s second internet court in Beijing. The system uses face-recognition and scanning for lawyers to enter the court complex. Litigants can answer a couple of questions on a machine, which will automatically file a legal complaint about them. Therefore, a voice recognition system will replace human clerks to maintain court records, during the time of the hearing.

The Chinese government has been including the blockchain, despite the country’s crackdown on cryptocurrency trading amid concerns of financial instability and was futuristic enough to introduce it into the country’s latest five-year plan in 2016. Given the immense potential of the blockchain, it can be leveraged to improve the efficiency and transparency of various sectors.

The Chinese government has also integrated buzzing technologies AI, and quantum computing in its current economic development plan to foster and strengthen growth.