How Tencent Cloud’s ZhiXin Chain Solves Data Integrity and Governance in Blockchain

Introduction – The rapid evolution of cloud computing has opened new opportunities for blockchain applications. This article summarizes a talk by Tencent Cloud senior blockchain engineer Li Liang, focusing on the technical thinking behind the ZhiXin Chain, a consortium blockchain for trusted data evidence.

Immutability vs. Modifiability

Blockchain data cannot be altered without global consensus because each block contains the hash of the previous block. While existing on‑chain data is immutable, new blocks can be appended to record updates, similar to adding a new day to a personal diary.

Core Technical Features

Distributed Consensus – Ensures that a single node cannot write data without agreement from multiple nodes.

Block‑Chain Structure – Links blocks via hashes, making tampering difficult and preserving data integrity.

Smart Contracts – Encode inter‑enterprise business logic on‑chain, enabling transparent and automated workflows.

Cryptographic Techniques – Symmetric, asymmetric, zero‑knowledge proofs, and homomorphic encryption protect data confidentiality and transaction privacy.

Evidence Storage Use Case

Electronic evidence faces challenges: centralised data is easy to tamper, volumes are large, and ownership is unclear. By storing hash values and timestamps on the ZhiXin Chain, data integrity is guaranteed, and the provenance of digital assets (e.g., images) can be proven.

When a user uploads valuable content, the system computes a hash, optionally adds an electronic signature and timestamp, and stores the record on‑chain. The hash cannot be reversed, and any modification to the original file changes the hash, providing a tamper‑evident proof.

Deployment Options

Private Deployment – Organizations with strong DevOps capabilities run their own nodes and manage the entire stack.

Public‑Cloud Service – Cloud providers offer one‑click blockchain solutions that handle node provisioning, smart‑contract deployment, and monitoring.

Hybrid Deployment – Combines cloud nodes with on‑premise nodes to satisfy compliance requirements.

Data‑On‑Chain Considerations

Only critical information should be stored on‑chain; large data can be represented by its hash. Scenarios that merit on‑chain storage include disputed data, jointly generated data, lifecycle‑critical data, and non‑splittable multi‑party data.

Transparency of blockchain creates a privacy trade‑off. Strategies include:

Plain‑text on‑chain when data is non‑sensitive and participants trust each other.

Encrypted on‑chain (cipher‑text) for evidence storage, using symmetric or asymmetric encryption.

Homomorphic encryption to allow computations on encrypted data while preserving confidentiality.

Zero‑knowledge proofs to verify conditions (e.g., sufficient balance) without revealing values.

Data Expansion Solutions

To mitigate blockchain bloat:

Reduce block size by pruning non‑essential metadata.

Store only essential business data on‑chain, keeping bulk data off‑chain.

Leverage cloud block storage or distributed file systems for large files.

Archive rarely accessed data or older blocks.

Employ sharding or multiple parallel chains ("split‑chain") for different evidence categories.

Cross‑Chain Mechanism

Future scenarios may involve trading on‑chain data across different chains. A cross‑chain transaction layer ensures atomicity: either all involved chains commit the operation, or none do.

Business Compliance

Plain‑text on‑chain can expose sensitive words permanently; therefore, filtering is recommended. Strong‑sync versus async integration decisions affect user experience due to blockchain’s inherent latency.

Governance of the Consortium

The ZhiXin Chain governance involves multiple authoritative institutions (e.g., network security agencies, judicial bodies). A formal charter defines roles, processes, and compliance checks. Ongoing operations require clear benefit‑sharing, performance evaluation, and a fallback plan for incidents.

Future Outlook

Blockchain is expected to become a foundational infrastructure, integrated with IoT, big data, video services, and AI. Rather than each business building its own chain, shared or public‑cloud‑hosted chains will serve multiple domains, with ZhiXin Chain evolving to support content protection, copyright, contracts, and cross‑industry services.

Selected Q&A Highlights

Hash comparison cannot verify slightly edited images; the platform performs similarity detection before allowing on‑chain registration.

Dispute resolution is handled via an appeal channel where users submit evidence for manual review.

Alliance chains use authorized institutions, eliminating the risk of 51% attacks typical of public chains.

Smart‑contract versioning and data compatibility are managed by defining multiple schema versions and migration rules.

Key rotation is recorded as a transaction; expired keys are marked unusable across all nodes.

Data lifecycle management distinguishes short‑term data (archived) from long‑term data (full nodes or light nodes).