While cracking down on the cryptocurrency industry, Beijing is investing heavily in blockchain technology for government and business applications.

According to news site Chuanguan, China’s technological standardization agency, the China Electronics Standardization Institute, will establish a national standard for blockchain next year.

• At the Fifth China Blockchain Development Competition in Chengdu, Sichuan, Li Ming, director of the Blockchain Research Office at the standardization body, said the institute has produced a standard and is in the process of approving it.
• As it clamps down on cryptocurrency, China is trying to stimulate blockchain innovation and implementation in corporate and government across the country. Blockchain could be placed on par with artificial intelligence, big data, and cloud computing in the most recent Five-Year Plan, a document that defines development priorities.
• Li said that standards are fundamental to an industry and brought the example of WiFi or Bluetooth; without a unified standard, devices from different manufacturers wouldn’t be able to connect to the network.
• The body will look into crafting evaluation criteria around the norm once it is determined, according to the director, so that a “benign” ecology may be developed.
• The Blockchain Services Network and Xinghuo Chain are two key government projects that use a “open permissioned” protocol to keep some of the benefits of decentralization while maintaining centralized management.
• These projects likewise aim to export Chinese-made blockchain and standards.
• Last year, the International Telecommunications Union approved a set of blockchain standards established by the People’s Bank of China, the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology, and Huawei for financial applications.
• The institute, which is part of China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, is in charge of drafting technical standards.
• Sichuan Daily, a state-run newspaper in China’s southwestern region, operates Chuanguan.

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