Blockchain innovation received a major boost on 9 April when a 10 billion Yuan unveiled during the opening of the Hangzhou Blockchain Industrial Park in China. This Blockchain Innovation Fund is financed by the Yuhang District Government, The Future Science and Technology City Administrative Committee and the Hangzhou Haoyu Investment Management Co.
Hangzhou Haoyu Investment Management’s composition is Handan Investment and INBlockchain. There was also the establishment of the Zhejiang Shimang Blockchain Strategic Development Research Institute. Ten blockchain projects sourced around the world were successfully contracted. The three Blockchain related entities that are the Industrial Park, the fund, and the research institute will give academic and financial support to the development of blockchain technology in Hangzhou.
The plans for an international Chinese Blockchain Center were canceled a week earlier before the opening of the Blockchain Industrial Park. The cancellation was as a result of legal technicalities, but with the opening of this Industrial Park, there is hope that the government may eventually support this technology. Some Chinese companies such as retailer JD.com and its foreign blockchain project startup incubator as well as the Bank of China’s Blockchain scaling solution patent have come out in support of the blockchain technology.
Even with this move, the Chinese government continues to effect stringent rules on cryptocurrencies in the country. It banned Initial Coin Offering (ICO) last year, banned ‘exchange-like services’ in January this year and banned foreign exchanges in February. The Chinese PBOC has been researching on the technology with a hope of creating its own digital coin.