MINSK, 19 July (BelTA) - The Belarusian united payment and information system ERIP will be among the first to make part of Belarus' blockchain-powered data network, BelTA learned from the ERIP operating company.
The first session of the Council of Nodes (owners of certification authorities) of the Belarusian banking industry's data network took place on 18 July. A regulation on the council of owners of certification authorities of the blockchain-powered data network was adopted as a result.
According to Natalya Shtevnina, Deputy Chairperson of the ERIP Board of Directors, ERIP will become one of the first nodes in the nascent blockchain-based data network. “We have made all the technical preparations required to obtain this status. This means complete security in the information exchange for the system's users and participants as the blockchain technology rules out any possibility of unilateral change of data within the information network,” Natalya Shtevnina said.
ERIP is a component of Belarus' information and payment infrastructure as well as its financial sector. It enables users to make payments via mobile and online banking, via outlets of 23 Belarusian banks, the national postal service operator Belpochta, and also via payment terminals and self-service kiosks.
“The use of new technologies and the establishment of the ERIP-based high-technology platform in Belarus' banking and financial sector were envisaged by the ERIP development strategy for 2017-2019. This is why it is only logical that ERIP is a node in the blockchain-based information network. We plan to make the blockchain technology part of the interbank personal identification system later on,” Natalya Shtevnina clarified.
The blockchain technology became widespread in 2008. It allows storing identical blocks of information in a decentralized manner. It boasts inherent resistance to errors, absence of centralized control and points of failure. The information stored in a blockchain network is transparent, because every member of the network has a copy of the common database. The records in such networks are open to public and easy to verify. A blockchain network cannot be destroyed because all the data in the network must be changed in order to alter a single unit of information.
