[The article has been updated to clarify that Alibaba Cloud is using Law Chain, which remains a separate entity]

Onchain, the open-source universal blockchain system, has partnered with Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. and will provide technology for Ali Cloud, Alibaba’s cloud computing branch.

Ali Cloud discussed the partnership at its annual cloud computing conference, Yunqi Cloud Conference, in Hangzhou, China. According to the official announcement, Onchain’s consortium chain product – the Law Chain – will provide technology to Ali Cloud, the world’s first blockchain-powered email evidence repository.

Law Chain’s technology originates from Antshares, powered by the Onchain framework. Last month, Antshares raised over $4.5 million in a crowdsale to complete building out its innovative Antshares Blockchain, which will digitize, record and track physical goods and assets, ranging from real estate titles to corporate equity, from supply chain assets to creditors’ claims.

Email is not only one of the most frequently used communication tools for corporate business, it is also used as evidence in courtrooms and recognized by judiciaries. However, extracting original email files as digital evidence that can be qualified in court has been quite difficult so far due to time, resources, inter-departmental cooperation, and technology required.

Ali Cloud has integrated Onchain’s Antshares blockchain technology to provide enterprise-grade email repository. Onchain will provide the bottom-layer framework for Ali Cloud, including its open-source blockchain capabilities, which allow any company to customize their own enterprise-level blockchain with individualized functionalities.

With Ali Cloud’s blockchain-based email evidence repository, users will be able to synchronize and store critical data (along with hash values) of important emails to third parties. In the case of conflicts, users can download the emails in question and send them to judicial departments. Judicial departments can then conduct reviews of the data to produce reports as evidence in a courtroom.

“Blockchain technology is expanding into more territories due to its high efficiency, advanced security, functionality, and low cost,” said Da Hongfei, CEO of Onchain and Founder of Antshares. “This combination of blockchain technology and digital evidence storage will completely alter the landscape of traditional evidence storage, bringing more efficiency and security.”

Alibaba cloud uses Law Chain, a consortium chain. Though the technology is from Onchain's technology, Law Chain remains a different entity, so it does not constitute Alibaba-Onchain cooperation, the company clarified.

For its leadership and innovation, Onchain recently received the Award for Excellence in Innovation in Blockchain Technology from Frost & Sullivan, and was also named a KPMG China Leading Fintech 50 selection.