China has become the home of blockchain, official statistics from Mutual Chain Pulse Research Institute have confirmed, with a whopping 45% of blockchain projects worldwide coming from the nation. 

The research from the institute found that in the first half of 2019, there were 408 blockchain application projects in the world, including 184 projects/applications in China. These statistics mirror that of recent research which suggested provincial administrative regions issued 106 pieces of policy information in the first half of 2019 alone.

Shenzhen and Beijing lead the way

The almost 200 blockchain projects were spread out across 38 cities in the People’s Republic. According to the statistics, Shenzhen, Beijing, Hangzhou and Shanghai rank among the top four. 

Shenzhen tops the chart with 24 applications, Beijing comes second having 22, third is Hangzhou (18) and Shanghai fourth with 16. The other major cities of Guangzhou, Chongqing and Fuzhou, all had 11 applications, 8 and 8 respectively, and finally Chengdu, Nanjing and Foshan, each with 6 application projects.

Shenzhen, Beijing, Hangzhou and Shanghai are no doubt in these top four positions due to the huge tech giants that reside there, with Tencent, Alibaba, Jingdong, Ping An Bank, China Merchants Bank, all based in these places. 

The Blockchain usages

The majority of the blockchain projects came from finance, government, traceability, and medical care. These would include Ant Financial’s rice tracking application, Shenzhen’s port invoice tracker and projects like Ultrain.

In terms of government applications, the projects include the blockchain government big data platform created by Beijing Development Zone, the “tax chain” of Guangdong Province taxation, and the “blockchain+AI” of Guangzhou Huangpu District for a business license, Hangzhou.

The financial usage of blockchain includes Beijing Minsheng Bank’s blockchain electronic deposit certificate platform. Nanjing Suning Bank opened the national cross-border business blockchain platform, and Shanghai Financial Accounts launched numerous blockchain financial application platforms. These include the enterprise chain intelligent supply chain financial platform. The supply chain finance technology platform built by Shenzhen SF Holdings which has entered the trial operation stage is also notable. 

Traceability is also a key usage for blockchain. The aforementioned rice tracking application is just one of many examples in China. Jingdong’s blockchain anti-counterfeiting traceability platform, Hangzhou Tmall International’s imported goods “full link traceability system”, Foshan Chancheng’s “blockchain + vaccine safety management platform” and Shenzhen Wal-Mart blockchain traceability platform are all traceable usages of blockchain. 
Overall, it appears that China has wholeheartedly backed blockchain, the technology behind cryptocurrencies. Blockchain is clearly seen as a way for technological advancement in various usages and it appears this is only the start for wider usage in not just China but Asia as a whole, with the continent leading the way in blockchain.