China Ranked 1st in Number of Blockchain Projects

According to the report by Blockdata, China ranked 1st with the most blockchain projects (263), which accounts for 25% of total. China also ranked 1st for the number of patent filings (225) in 2018, according to the World Intellectual Property Organization. The United States ranked 2nd in the number of patent filings. 

Three Chinese internet giants Alibaba, Tencent and Baidu were running their own blockchain projects. Alibaba ranked 1st in the Top 100 Blockchain Enterprise Patent Ranking with over 90 blockchain-related patents. 

Some firms outside of China had spotted the opportunity for launching blockchain business in Chinese market. For example, Digital Asset from New York is working with the Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing (HKEX) to launch a program to make Chinese stock market available to international investors using blockchain technology. 

Although the development of blockchain technology is still at its early stage, many believe that China will be the leader once the technology goes viral. Kang Li, assistant director at Blockchain Research Center of China said “Currently, we don’t see a huge difference between blockchain development in China and the US in terms of the business-to-business (B2B) market”. And he attributed it to the mature internet industry and the large user base in China.