Chinese Congress Reviews National Blockchain Fund Bill

A bill to create a specialized national blockchain fund was submitted to China's congress during the annual 'Two Sessions'.

Jieqing Tan, a deputy to the National People’s Congress (NPC) of China, has proposed the creation of a specialized blockchain development fund to the NPC, according to a new report from Beijing News. The NPC is China’s most powerful legislative body; therefore, the possible acceptance of the proposal could be big news for China’s blockchain industry.

The proposal was submitted during the NPC’s annual “Two Sessions”, also known as “langhui meetings”, when roughly 3,000 delegates from across the country meet to submit legislative proposals. These meetings have been ongoing since Friday, May 22nd.

According to Tan, the goals of the fund are to encourage blockchain innovation, grow a variety of blockchain enterprises, and to cultivate a number of blockchain “unicorns”. Tan also believes that the use of blockchain could modernize China’s government processes, contributing to the creation of a “high-trust society” that relies on smart governance systems.

Tan believes that a clear plan for the future of blockchain in China must be developed

Tan believes that with time, the development of China’s blockchain industry and the implementation of blockchain-based governance systems may help China to gain traction as a global leader in the future development of blockchain technology.

In order for this to be achieved successfully, however, a clear plan for movement forward must be developed: Tan suggested that “from the bottom technology standard, middle industry application development to the top-level system design, the national blockchain technology industry and supervision [of the] three-dimensional strategic planning system should be well coordinated.”

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Tan also pointed out that while he believes that the blockchain industry has large potential for growth, there are several factors currently impeding that growth: currency, there are a limited number of Chinese blockchain enterprises, as well as a lack of talent, information, and possibilities to scale.

Still, it can be argued that on a national level, China is much further along in the development of blockchain-based systems than perhaps any other country in the world.

China may be further in the development of its blockchain ecosystem than most other countries

For example, China is currently in the process of developing and implementing its own national cryptocurrency. Though there was some speculation that the currency would have been live by November of 2019, there is currently no release date for this ‘digital yuan’.

Additionally, speaking as part of the 18th collective study of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee in Beijing last October, Chinese President Xi Jinping said that blockchain technology has a wide array of applications within China.

Xi listed possible applications of blockchain in areas ranging from financing businesses to mass transit and poverty alleviation, saying that “we must take the blockchain as an important breakthrough for independent innovation of core technologies.”

Although Xi did not mention Bitcoin specifically, his comments were linked to a massive spike in the price of Bitcoin that came hours after the news of his blockchain-related commentary was reported.