Exploration and Outlook of Next-Generation Blockchain – Full Speech by JD Chain Chief Architect

On November 8‑9, 2019, at the World Blockchain Conference in Wuzhen, JD Digital Technology Group’s Chief Architect of the Blockchain Department, Huang Haiquan, delivered a speech titled “Exploration and Outlook of Next‑Generation Blockchain.”

The talk was divided into three parts: (1) three fundamental questions about blockchain, (2) JD’s blockchain technical architecture and practice, and (3) the JD Chain open‑source project.

1. What is blockchain? Huang described two perspectives: a static view that sees blockchain as a combination of existing technologies, often called a distributed database, and a developmental view that focuses on the core demand for a trustworthy data protocol enabling direct peer‑to‑peer exchange without intermediaries.

2. Why do we need blockchain? He explained that blockchain can provide verifiable, time‑ordered records, which is valuable for cross‑entity business processes (expanding business boundaries) and for regulatory transparency (penetrating supervision).

He illustrated the value with a vaccine traceability case, where blockchain linked production, cold‑chain logistics, disease‑control centers, vaccination sites, and feedback, solving information opacity and accountability challenges.

3. How to use blockchain? He identified three criteria for valuable scenarios: cross‑entity collaboration, long‑chain transactions with many steps, and situations requiring low‑cost trust.

He then presented the evolution of next‑generation blockchain architecture, summarizing five aspects: ledger model, network model, interaction model, permission control model, and storage model, each designed to support both public‑chain and enterprise‑chain requirements.

Finally, Huang reviewed the JD Chain project, noting its rapid development since March 2018, addressing performance, national‑cryptography support, pluggable consensus, data query, multi‑key management, and contract engineering, and invited developers to join the open‑source community.