On Monday, it was reported that Beijing tech hub Zhongguancun plans to roll out financial subsidies for blockchain firms. The nearly 3000 companies it will support include Axi Chain, Ford Tree, Fangda Chain, and Beijing European Chain Technology (BETC).
Known as ‘China’s Silicon Valley’, the area is home to Lenovo, the Founder Group, and offices of Google, Microsoft, and Intel. The Zhongguancun Management Committee released a list of 2920 SMEs in the science and technology sector it intends to subsidize. The firms will be given financial support for research and development expenses.
The chairman of Axi Chain, a commodities supply chain firm, said that the amount of financial support was not confirmed. Yin Xuzhou also claimed that the program is in a ‘publicity period’, which allows enterprises to contact the tech hub in the case of disagreement.
Founded in 2016, Axi Chain held a successful funding round last year. More recently, it trialed a blockchain solution for beef traceability. Meanwhile, Ford Tree established a blockchain joint venture with advertising platform ChinaNet and Fangda Chain is an offshoot of leading law firm Fangda. BETC, among other projects, has a patent application for automated data processing on a blockchain.
China’s leading position in the sector is partly thanks to institutional support and funding. Last week, the nation’s president lauded blockchain and encouraged its development. His former university launched a research center last year. Meanwhile, a recent initiative hopes to bring a national blockchain infrastructure to SMEs and developers.
