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China enlists Huawei, Tencent, Ant Financial in national blockchain committee to set standards

  • The initiative marks a major step forward to achieve mainstream adoption of blockchain technology across China’s industries
  • The committee also includes Baidu, and JD.com

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China’s National Blockchain and Distributed Accounting Technology Standardisation Technical Committee will gather researchers and experts from the government, think tanks, universities, supercomputing centres and major hi-tech companies. Photo: Shutterstock
Sarah DaiandYujie Xue
China has formed a national blockchain committee, which enlists the support of some of the country’s largest hi-tech companies to draw up standards for use of the technology across industries.

This group includes telecommunications equipment maker Huawei Technologies, video games and social media powerhouse Tencent Holdings, Chinese online search market leader Baidu, fintech company Ant Financial Services and e-commerce giant JD.com, according to a statement released earlier this week by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT).

The so-called National Blockchain and Distributed Accounting Technology Standardisation Technical Committee will gather more than 70 researchers and experts from the MIIT, local governments, state think tanks, universities, supercomputing centres and the hi-tech companies, the statement said.

It also said MIIT vice-minister Chen Zhaoxiong will serve as chairman of the committee, but gave no details on how the group is expected to function.

Baidu had no comment on the blockchain committee’s formation. Huawei, Tencent, JD.com, Ant Financial and the MIIT did not immediately respond to separate inquiries for comment. Ant Financial is an affiliate of Alibaba Group Holding, which is the parent company of the South China Morning Post.

The MIIT-led initiative marks a major step forward to help achieve mainstream adoption of blockchain technology, which President Xi Jinping endorsed on October 24 last year as vital for China to strengthen its digital economy.

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