[DigitalToday reporter Jinju Hong (홍진주)] A China-led international standardisation project for blockchain infrastructure-as-a-service (BaaS) has been newly approved by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). As work advances on common technical criteria that companies can use when adopting blockchain-based services, competition over standards in the blockchain infrastructure market is expected to intensify.

On Aug. 3 local time, blockchain media outlet CoinPost reported that the standard covers a "technical framework and functional requirements for BaaS in blockchain and distributed ledger technology." Germany, Britain, Ireland, Japan, Portugal and Uganda are set to participate in the project proposed by China.

BaaS is a service model that provides blockchain infrastructure in a cloud environment. It has drawn attention as a way for companies to adopt enterprise blockchain because they can use needed functions without building their own blockchain networks, reducing build costs and operational burdens.

The standardisation work will proceed largely across three areas. In the infrastructure and network area, it will set criteria for building and operating blockchain networks and underlying resources. In the service management and smart contract area, the focus is on unifying lifecycle management methods, from creation to disposal, for the list of services provided by platforms and for smart contracts.

In the data linkage and security area, standards are set to be established to clarify approaches to on-chain data access, privacy protection, and security and compliance frameworks.

The BaaS market is already expanding rapidly. Industry research found that the number of blockchain application projects built on BaaS has surpassed 100,000. Use cases are also spreading across corporate operations, including supply chain finance, product history tracking and electronic evidence preservation.

In corporate settings, however, the lack of interoperability and operating standards among platforms has been cited as a key barrier. When using different BaaS platforms, additional costs can arise in system integration and data migration processes.

Once the ISO standardisation is completed, companies can use common evaluation criteria in adopting blockchain infrastructure, and connectivity among platforms could improve. In the enterprise blockchain market in particular, security, operational stability and the ability to integrate with existing systems are emerging as more important selection criteria than simple processing speed.

With this approval, China has expanded its international influence not only in blockchain technology but also in infrastructure standards. With participating countries spanning Europe, Asia and Africa, a key focus is expected to be how much each country’s industrial requirements are reflected in the standard-setting process.