The Chinese government supports and encourages blockchain industry as long as it can be controlled and assessed properly. Today Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Center published the “2018 China blockchain industry White Paper”, where in-depth analysis of China's blockchain technology in the financial field and the application of the real economy systematically elaborated six major characteristics and major trends in the development of China's blockchain industry. According to the White Paper, China’s blockchain industry is booming. The amount of startups and enterprises are rapidly growing with industry giants such as Alibaba actively investing in blockchain technology while luxury goods companies are developing platforms to benefit from the technology.
The Chinese government is putting a tremendous effort to introduce an applicable policy system and regulatory framework which already has been gradually improved. The Chinese government revealed the latest regulation that its new platform will assess how local companies use blockchain.
Six characteristics of the Chinese blockchain industry:
- China's blockchain industry has initially taken shape and is in full swing
- Its geographical distribution is relatively concentrated and industrial agglomeration effect is obvious.
- Blockchain applications are diversified from financial extensions to physical areas.
- To achieve "information in collaboration" and help the real economy reduce costs and improve efficiency.
- Technology abuse leads to certain risks in industrial development and cannot be ignored.
- The industrial policy system was gradually established and the industrial development environment continued to be optimized.
Six trends of Chinese blockchain industry:
- The blockchain has become a frontier of global technological development and had opened up new international competition tracks.
- The blockchain field has become a new hot spot for innovation and entrepreneurship and technological integration will expand the application of new space.
- The blockchain will be widely used in the real economy in the next three years, becoming an important support for the construction of digital China.
- Blockchains to create a new platform economy and open a new era of the sharing economy.
- Blockchain accelerates the process of “credible digitization” and drives finance to “get out of nothing” to serve the real economy.
- Blockchain supervision and standards system will be further improved and the foundation for industrial development will continue to be consolidated.
Currently, China has the largest amount of Blockchain patents globally and Alibaba (NYSE: BABA) owns more than any other company in the world. As Jack Ma, CEO of Alibaba said at the 2nd World Intelligence Congress in Tianjin last week: “This technology is a must-have for our businesses, our payment platform, and to our entire ecosystem which accommodates billions of transactions. But, we’ve never thought about using Blockchain technology to make money in cryptocurrency. Today Blockchain has become a buzzword. But the truth is not every company can be in the Blockchain business.”
Luxury items are often faked and original manufacturer companies are searching new methods for preventing scams. VeChain already implemented blockchain solutions across various luxury goods, liquor, and agriculture to track and guarantee the authenticity of the products.
What is yet to be determined is how China’s new assessment platform will affect local luxury industries.
By Nadya Astam