Nanjing has long been steadily plowing toward becoming China's answer to the Silicon Valley in the US. Always on the lookout for new technological breakthroughs, Crypto Vest announces that Nanjing has set up funding worth $1.5 billion to look into blockchain and all its possible applications.
The project was initially announced during the Industrial Public Chain Summit (IPCS), a blockchain technological gathering that was attended by high-ranking party members of the Communist Party of China as well as officials from the city government of tech hub Nanjing.
The goal of this fund is simple: find new blockchain technologies, develop support for it, and create a chain of sustainability for different applications. These are in the content, energy, healthcare, IP, and environmental protection sectors, among others.
The Nanjing fund was created with help from the Zhongguancun Blockchain Industry Alliance, per News BTC. The funding, meanwhile, will be funneled through to other recipients abroad as well as domestically; it will be used for projects related to blockchain locally as well as globally.
That being said, despite the endorsement of Chinese president Xi Jinping, blockchain remains an uncharted territory for most, and that sentiment is shared by the majority of the Chinese public. Chinese regulators like the Central Bank of China, for instance, have lauded the ban on cryptocurrency trading. Cryptocurrency is part of blockchain and, as such, needs to be understood, not to be scared of.
While cryptocurrency is still in a bad light, China seems accepting and supportive, the even-of blockchain, enough to fund research activities aimed at it. Nanjing, for its part, is willing to open its doors to companies setting up shop for the sole purpose of exploring blockchain technology. It is done with hopes that the government will keep on a support that eventually opens minds towards cryptocurrency support, eventually.
China has been generally supportive of the blockchain. The South China Morning Post has said that about 4,000 Chinese companies are exploring or incorporating blockchain in their day-to-day activities. There are also 16,000 businesses that are using blockchain for their operations or transactions.
