China launches research center for blockchain innovation
China has decided to go deeper into blockchain technology after banning cryptocurrency transactions in 2021. A recent report from China Daily noted that the country is about to launch a blockchain innovation research center in Beijing.
China’s National Blockchain Innovation Center will collaborate with local universities, blockchain experts and firms to explore core blockchain technologies.
China is poised to boost its digital infrastructure
According to the report, the research will produce results that will play an important role in supporting China’s new digital infrastructure. The report noted that the innovation center will focus on basic blockchain theory, key technologies’ software and hardware, including basic platform and verification network.
The Beijing Academy of blockchain and Edge Computing (BABEC) will take responsibility for the new research institution. BABEC is known for its ChainMaker blockchain. BABEC’s ChainMaker has the support of 50 business companies, including the state-owned China Construction Bank (China Unicom).
Currently, ChainMaker executes 240 million transactions per second (TPS). By 2021, it processed 100,000 TPS. BABEC is a leader in blockchain technology, which explains why the state has given it responsibility for the new research institution.
Despite China’s hawkish stance against cryptocurrency trading, the country has been active in blockchain innovation. China even prides itself as a blockchain nation. In September 2022, Chinese authorities claimed that the country accounted for 84% of all submitted blockchain applications worldwide.
While this claim may not be far from the truth, the approval rate of submitted blockchain applications is significantly low. Currently, only 19% of the total applications submitted have been approved.
Updates on China’s CBDC development
Blockchain technology and the CBDC project became the trademark of the Chinese government. Regarding China’s CBDC development, the central bank has rolled out e-yuan (e-CNY), worth millions of dollars, across the country to promote CBDC adoption. According to a reportthe Chinese central bank launched around 200 activities for e-CNY across the country during the holiday period.
These activities aimed to promote consumption. During this exercise, many cities in the Chain rolled out CBDCs worth 180 million yuan ($26.5) in subsidies and consumption voucher programs. Global Times, a Chinese English-based news outlet, cited cities such as Shenzhen’s local government issued more than $14.7 million in e-CNY to subsidize the catering industry.
China has made several efforts, including setting targets for various cities to increase CBDC usage. Another report noted that the city of Hangzhou issued e-CNY vouchers worth 80 yuan to each resident on January 16. The city gave away a total of 4 million yuan ($590,000) in e-CNY.
On February 1, senior ruling party officials in the city of Suzhou set a speculative key performance indicator for the end of 2023. The officials estimated a value of 2 trillion yuan ($300 billion) in e-CNY transactions in the city by the end of 2023.
Their target is high for a single city, given the total e-CNY transactions barely over 100 billion yuan ($14 billion) in October 2022, two years after the CBDC launch.
The e-CNY wallet app featured an option to send red packets called hongbao to provide money to attract new users. Earlier in January also got the app an update to allow users to make wireless payments using Android phones.
China has been a world-renowned technology hub over the years. With the new blockchain innovation research center, China can go deeper and even become more successful.
Featured image from Pixabay l zhangliams and chart from Tradingview.com
