In a move that could begin another rivalry with the United States, Chinese President Xi Jinping asked for urgency in the development and investment in blockchain technology.
Being the general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, Xi held a meeting on blockchain technology with senior cadres.
Blockchain is an encrypted ledger that is made up of a growing list of records called blocks.
Each of these blocks has a cryptographic hash of the previous block, a timestamp and transaction data that cannot be modified.
With each transaction, the chain grows but all records are stored and can be verified.
Xi was quoted saying that blockchain would have "an important role in the next round of technological innovation and industrial transformation."
Because of this, President Xi pointed out that it should be made a key part of the country's innovation program with investment in the sector increased and noted that major countries are increasing their efforts when it comes to the development of blockchain technology.
He wants China to have an edge in the industrial, innovative and theoretical aspects of this emerging field.
Xi sees blockchain getting applied to education, elderly care, employment, food security, finance, health care, infrastructure management, poverty alleviation, and public services.
Jenny Yang, the founder of BlockGlobe - a portal for news on blockchain and related sectors - said the technology could be used, in providing evidence of a company's business operations that could help it secure financing and reduce lenders' risks.
Blockchain technology can also be used to track and trace the supply of food, from farm to store, with just a scannable code that in the end, would empower industries by increasing efficiency and lowering costs, added Yang.
Chinese developers are working on creating basic blockchain solutions for different industries, and the country has filed more patents on blockchain than anywhere else in the world.
The Cyberspace Administration of China has the list of the proponents of the 506 projects.
The financial services that have filed their blockchain projects are six banks, two major state-owned national banks and four local banks with 14 blockchain projects.
Chinese tech giants like Alibaba, Baidu, and Tencent also filed.
Together with government-led projects is also the fourth classification of everything else that filed their blockchain projects.
Yang pointed out that blockchain solutions are like the Belt and Road Initiative's power grids and railways and Huawei's 5G telecommunications networks.
Blockchain solutions are the basis of future global economic infrastructure.
Xi did not mention anything on cryptocurrency at the meeting, the most famous application of blockchain technology, because China has banned Bitcoin and any other cryptocurrencies.
As of this writing, because of President Xi's blockchain push, Chinese technology stocks went up with 60 companies surging by the daily 10% limit onshore.
