China approved blockchain companies Tencent, Alibaba and Baidu

The Chinese government has approved 197 companies as registered blockchain service providers. Among them are major companies like internet and tech company Tencent, commerce giant Alibaba and internet company Baidu. The country published the list of blockchain service providers this week.

To be more precise, it's Baidu Blockchain Engine, Alibaba Cloud Blockchain-as-a-Service (BaaS), and Tencent BaaS in particular, that are mentioned on that list. Other companies include the likes of ecommerce giant JD.com, supply chain management service VeChain, parcel delivery service ParcelX and financial institutes like the China Zheshang Bank and Ping An Insurance Company.

The registration by the Chinese cyberspace administration is part of the country's regulations for blockchain companies. The country is emerging as a dominant force online and with the development of blockchain technologies. Currently 40 percent of all worldwide ecommerce, goes through Chinese internet companies like Alibaba, Baidu and Tencent. Each of those companies has been expanding to the west in recent years, and have been investing a lot into blockchain technology.

On top of that, China is already a market leader in mobile payments. Alipay, which is now known as Ant Financial, and WeChat Pay collectively have 1.5 billion active mobile payment users. Alipay and WeChat Pay are both owned by the same internet companies mentioned before. In Chinese cities 92 percent of the citizens use one of these apps as the primary payment method. No cash, no cards, just a mobile phone.

All these companies and their users are switching to blockchain technology and are becoming more likely to get into crypto. Baidu is cooperating with Tron on cloud computing solutions, Tencent is on a forerunner in online services and gaming, and Alibaba's previous CEO Jack Ma always expressed his admiration for blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies.