Oct 22, 2020|

JD Digits and ITG to Build E-Sign Platform Based on Blockchain

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by Kelly Dawson

The tradition of signing a binding physical contract between two parties dates back to the Roman Empire (27 BC to 476 AD), even before the birth of paper (105 AD in Eastern Han Dynasty), a history of two thousand years. And yet the process of signing a paper contract has always posed problems: easy forgery of signatures or seals; the necessity and inconvenience of either in-person signing or contract delivery; and the difficulty of tracing the source of disputes.

In response to these pain points, JD Digits and ITG (International Trade Group) Holding will partner to jointly build a new digital signing model based on JD’s electronic cloud contract platform. The new platform, JD E-sign, will rely heavily on blockchain technology developed by JD Digits, and is expected to help ITG Holding reduce cost and time expenditures by 80%; and decrease contract costs by 60%, greatly improving the efficiency of trade cooperation.

Named a Fortune Global 500 company in 2018, ITG Holding’s core business includes supply chain management, real estate operations and financial services. The company will use the platform to sign contracts in its dealings with enterprises and individuals in the sectors of textile, oil and chemical, rubber and tires, agricultural products and more—potentially impacting hundreds of thousands of customers and enterprises in the upstream and downstream of the industrial chain.

The platform will enable digital signing for a variety of contract categories, including sales, transportation, warehousing, port operations, guarantee letters, mortgage letters, receipts and more.

Blockchain technology will ensure that the signing process is tamper-proof and fully traceable, featuring real-name authentication, electronic signature, a verified time-stamp and more—all in compliance with China’s “Electronic Signature Law”, which provides legal grounds to determine the validity of electronic legal documents.

The electronic signature and the content of the contract will also be fully protected. The platform integrates a nationally credited electronic certification service. Based on JD Digits’ industry-leading data security protection scheme, the platform will encrypt and store all information to prevent data leakage.

With the authorization and consent of the customer, the platform will digitally file the signed contract on the blockchain, simultaneously storing the contract with various judicial and notary institutions to register the legality of the document, including the Beijing Internet Court, the Guangzhou Internet Court, and the Beijing Notary Office.

The contracts will then be readily available for search and viewing by relevant parties either online or via a WeChat miniprogram. Individuals or enterprises who wish to access the document will only need to provide account and security information.

These outlined steps will greatly reduce the tedious processes associated with traditional paper contract signing. Thanks to JD Digits, ITG Holding will be able to realize digital transformation of multiple business scenarios, greatly reducing time, effort and costs.

 

(kellydawson@jd.com)

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