Following its 2021 ban on bitcoin transactions, China has invested more in blockchain technology. The China Daily reported recently that the nation would open a blockchain innovation research facility in Beijing.
The National Blockchain Innovation Center in China will collaborate (1) with academic institutions, industry leaders, and blockchain technologists to study and develop blockchain’s fundamental technologies.
China Is Getting Ready to Invest in Its Cyberspace Infrastructure
The study’s findings, the paper says, will be crucial in sustaining China’s emerging digital infrastructure. According to the article, the blockchain innovation hub’shub’s primary research areas will be in blockchain’s foundational theoretical framework, key technologies, software, and hardware, particularly core blockchain infrastructure such as core platform and validation networks.
The academy will be managed by BABEC (Beijing Academy of Blockchain and Edge Computing). BABEC’s ChainMaker blockchain is well-known in the industry. Fifty companies, including the State-owned China Construction Bank, have backed BABEC’s ChainMaker project (China Unicom).
There are currently 240,000,000 transactions processed every second on ChainMaker (TPS), and the system handled 100,000 TPS in 2020. The state gave BABEC control of the new research institute since it is a frontrunner in blockchain technology.
Even though China has taken a hard line against bitcoin trading, it has been a leader in blockchain development. China is so confident in its blockchain capabilities that it calls itself a blockchain country.
In September 2022, China’s government boasted that China was responsible for 84% of all blockchain applications submitted worldwide.
This assertion may or may not be far from the truth, but the reality is that a very small percentage of blockchain applications get approved after being submitted. As it stands, just 1 in 20 applications submitted has been accepted thus far.
Recent Advances in China’s CBDC Industry
China’s government has branded blockchain and the CBDC initiative as its own. As for China’s CBDC expansion, the monetary authority has pushed out e-yuan (e-CNY), worth millions of dollars, around the country to promote CBDC adoption. During the Christmas season, the People’sPeople’s Bank of China reportedly launched around 200 e-CNY-related events around the country.
The purpose of these events was to increase consumer spending. During this exercise, several municipalities in Chain issued CBDC-based subsidy and consumption coupon schemes totaling 180 million yuan ($26.5).
According to Global Times, a Chinese English-language news site, local governments in places like Shenzhen have doled out e-CNY subsidies totaling more than $14.7 million.
To increase CBDC usage, China has made several steps, including setting objectives for certain cities. According to another source, on January 16, each citizen of Hangzhou city was given an electronic Chinese New Year coupon worth 80 yuan. Approximately $590,000.00 in electronic CNY was distributed by the city.
On the same day, top Suzhou City governing party leaders created a hypothetical end-of-2023 key performance indicator. By 2023’s2023’s end, the city’scity’s authorities said, e-CNY transactions will have totaled 2 trillion yuan, or $300 billion.
As of October 2022, two years after the creation of the CBDC, total e-CNY transactions had barely topped 100 billion yuan, or $14 billion.
To entice people to download the e-CNY wallet app, they included the capacity to send monetary “red packets” or ” hongbao.” The software was upgraded in early January, enabling users to make wireless transactions using Android smartphones.
China has long been recognized as a leader in the technology industry. China’s prospects for further development and even greater success may improve with opening of a new center dedicated to researching blockchain technology.
