A new research report indicates that China’s blockchain market has seen booming growth since the country’s tech companies first made forays into the sector in the middle of last decade.
China’s overall blockchain market reached USD$479 million in size in 2020, according to the “Worldwide Blockchain Spending Guide (V1 2021)” released by research firm IDC.
The market reached this prodigious size just five years after Chinese tech giants Alibaba, Baidu and Tencent first launched earnest efforts to research and apply the technology in 2015.
AntChain (蚂蚁链) has since emerged as the chief blockchain vehicle for Alibaba-affiliate Ant Group, generating a wide range of e-commerce related applications including a digital copyright services platform, a digital logistics solution plan, the AntChain leasing platform and a blockchain fiscal invoices platform.
“In terms of applications, industries and scenarios, AntChain’s services scope is the broadest and most complete,” said Liu Quan (刘权), head of CCID’s blockchain research department, to ChainNews.
“With its footing in e-commerce operations, it covers over 50 areas including product tracking, digital copyright and administrative services.”
Liu Quan said that Tencent’s blockchain development has focused more on financial applications, cooperating with Linklogis and Standard Chartered Bank to drive applications in the area of supply chain financing.
In August 2018, Tencent worked with the Shenzhen municipal tax authority to launch China’s first blockchain-based electronic invoice (fapiao) system, while in March of this year the two parties led the launch of the world’s first international standards for blockchain-based electronic invoices.
