Last week's approval for blockchain technology by Chinese President Xi Jinping had a lot of ripple effects.
It sent a tear to the cryptocurrency markets. It added weight to the words of Facebook top honcho Mark Zuckerberg that if the US did not move forward with innovation in blockchain, it would be China.
And it sparked a debate over just how China should implement and what types of blockchain the country will embrace.
Let's make this clear: This is about Blockchain -- not Bitcoin.
Of note, several people pointed out that China's blockchain technology developments would not imply that its people would suddenly begin utilizing the world's most popular crypto denomination.
Indeed, far from it. Xi Jinping was swift in a follow-up speech this week to alert an enthusiastic audience in cryptography that he was talking about blockchain and not Bitcoin.
As a long-time broker, strategist, and market analyst Alex Krüger points out, China's blockchain ambitions are much more likely to involve private networks and add additional levels of transparency of transactions between individuals.
Some, though, claim they have a hard time differentiating between blockchain and bitcoin. The two technologies, technically, share the same page.
Any use or mention of blockchain, therefore, will undoubtedly lead people to bitcoin, or cryptocurrency, for that matter. Hence, its rise in popularity - and price - in the market of late.
It remains to be seen exactly how Chinese finance officials plan to use blockchain technology. Yet what can not be denied is the reality that this type of technology is something they can't ignore.
From encouraging Chinese financial institutions to integrate blockchain technology into new cryptography policies, it is clear that the statement of Xi Jinping is already being set in motion.
In fact, local governments are starting to fund the blockchain initiative of China. PrimitiveCrypto's founding associate and trusted source on China's blockchain developments Dovey Wan has disclosed that local Chinese governments are now actually joining the bandwagon.
The local government of Guangzhou has announced that 10 billion RMB ($150 million USD) will be dedicated to funding a "blockchain subsidy" for "outstanding blockchain projects."
Wan claims that "total investment support" will be huge and states that the aim is to only fund two blockchain ventures each year, whether public or federated chain projects.
According to Caijing's financial media source, the subsidy for public chain projects is up to $1.5 million, with up to $500,000 being made available for the projects.
