China is bringing together its tech giants to create a national blockchain committee with the primary goal of setting standards for the adoption of blockchain in the country.
The national committee will include a few big names in China’s tech sector including Huawei Technologies, Tencent Holdings, Baidu, Ant Financial Services, and JD.com.
Called the National Blockchain and Distributed Accounting Technology Standardisation Technical Committee, some 70 researchers and experts will also be present. [South China Morning Post]
These individuals will come from local governments, state-led think tanks, universities, and supercomputing centers.
None of the companies have thus far commented on the committee’s formation. However, China has been taking the emerging technology quite seriously after committing to it as a national program last year.
The committee may seem like an anathema to those of us in the cryptocurrency space. Who would have thought that blockchain development would soon become a state-led operation?
However, China has been leading this push more than any other nation. It has also taken a strict ‘blockchain, not cryptocurrencies’ stance. Ultimately, the goal of the Chinese state is to create a ‘sovereign blockchain.‘
Since China seems to have a handle on its COVID-19 situation for now, it’s clear that it wants to set its sights on emerging technologies.
Interest in blockchain has likewise been ramping up in the country as of late. A few days ago, China’s long-anticipated ‘digital yuan’ and photos of its alleged app were leaked. The country plans to migrate much of its currency over to a digital-based system shortly.
Yet, this is far from what the original idea behind blockchain technology was all about: decentralization, privacy, and cutting out the middleman. States and corporations have found the underlying tech incredibly useful, which is why the 2020s may heat up to be a ‘war of stablecoins.’
For better or for worse, China is leading the way on blockchain innovation — and it just may end up being the catalyst for a cryptocurrency market revival in 2020.
Source: https://beincrypto.com/china-forms-national-blockchain-committee-with-huawei-tencent-ant-financial/