Published in Cloud

Chinese President Xi Jinping dubs blockchain 'breakthrough'

by on01 June 2018


China needs to focus on this sort of thing

It seems that Blockchain has found a fanboy in the form of Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Xi told the assorted throngs at the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Chinese Academy of Engineering the new generation of technology represented by artificial intelligence, quantum information, mobile communications, internet of things and blockchain is accelerating breakthrough applications. He added that China needs to become the global centre of science and innovation.

This might seem a bit ironic as Beijing has effectively halted bitcoin trading domestically, and in September officially banned sales of new digital tokens through the "initial coin offering" process. However, the country remains a hub of activity for blockchain development. Several startups are partnering with the local Chinese government to research or implement the technology.

The blockchain is also mentioned twice in the Chinese State Council's 13th five-year economic plan that was released in 2016.

"Since entering the 21st century, global science and technological innovation have entered into an unprecedented period of intensive activity", Xi said in his speech. "A new round of scientific and industrial revolution is reconstructing the global innovation map and reshaping the global economic structure."

 

Last modified on 01 June 2018
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