China, a world leader in blockchain, is entering the next stage of the industry’s development with blockchain being now increasingly integrated with other emerging technologies, including artificial intelligence (AI), big data and the Internet of Things (IoT), a new report by Blockchain Business Bridge, a non-profit outfit focusing on facilitating business collaboration and knowledge exchange between China, Denmark and the rest of the world, says.

The China’s Blockchain Ecosystem report, released earlier this year, explores blockchain’s increasingly deep integration into Chinese business and society, and shares forecasts on what’s to come for the industry.

According to the report, no other country around the world has embraced and held blockchain as important as China has. This commitment has enabled the country to become a world leader in blockchain, a position which it is expected to maintain moving forwards.

The Chinese blockchain sector is now entering a new stage of development, the report says, where more projects merging the disruptive forces of blockchain with other cutting-edge technologies are arising.

Already, several initiatives have been implemented in various industries across China, the report notes. One example is industrial Internet, where blockchain has been used in tandem with the IoT and AI to connect people, machines, and devices, and optimize business processes.

In 2019, Chinese blockchain company Qulian Technology teamed up with State Grid, the country’s national power grid, to develop a IoT-enabled blockchain.

These developments come on the back of new commitments from the government to support cutting-edge technologies. In February, China rolled out a national digitalization plan focusing on establishing the digital infrastructure needed for the country to be “at the global forefront in terms of digital development” by 2025.

The plan includes support for the in-depth integration of digital technology into the real economy, including the finance, agriculture, manufacturing, education and energy sectors.

In January, China President Xi Jinping wrote in an article that technologies, including blockchain, AI, 5G and cloud computing, will be major drivers for the nation’s new economy and will help China meet international competition.

Further showcasing the government’s commitment to the technology, news broke last month that a blockchain research center will be established in Beijing. The South China Morning Post reported that the National Blockchain Technology Innovation Center will focus on major use cases related to the economy and individuals’ livelihoods.

China’s blockchain industry

China is home to over 1,400 companies developing blockchain solutions, new data from the state-owned China Academy for Information and Communications Technology reveals. The number makes China one of the world’s biggest blockchain hubs. Together with the US, these two nations make up for 52% of all blockchain companies worldwide, the outfit claims.

Despite the size of the Chinese blockchain industry, the sector is dominated by the bigtechs and large Internet firms, the Blockchain Business Bridge report notes. These firms have been actively exploring blockchain and implementing the technology into their businesses.

Tencent, the creator of WeChat, the country’s top super app, has worked on different blockchain projects that have been implemented across varied industries and use cases including supply chain finance, gaming, government administration and public service, the report says.

Wanxiang Group, one of China’s largest automotive component manufacturing companies, has been involved in the blockchain field since at least 2015. In 2017, the company joined hands with WeBank, and blockchain startup Juzix to launch BCOS, an open source blockchain infrastructure platform. BCOS would later be used to develop Wanxiang’s supply chain financial service platform.

And ZhongAn Insurance, China’s first Internet insurance company, has used blockchain to store insurance policies in a secure manner, among other use cases.

Separately, China’s financial industry, led by the central bank, has also carried out many pilot projects on blockchain, and the technology has been implemented in different business scenarios and industries.

According to CCID Consulting, financial services and enterprise services are the two most prominent categories. Use cases typically involve cross-border payments, insurance claims, securities trading as well as blockchain infrastructure. But blockchain is also being used in the agriculture industry for food traceability, in logistics and billing systems, as well as in copyright protection to improve the efficiency of copyright registration but also reduces the cost of registration.

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