China’s Congress Proposes Blockchain Development Fund

National People’s Congress, China’s parliament and Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, the most powerful political advisory body in the country, have recently begun their annual sessions. These are widely referred to as the “Two Sessions” or “lianghui” meetings. These meetings have been ongoing since May 22. 

The National People’s Congress, or NPC, is China’s top legislative body. Nearly 3,000 delegates from around the country meet once a year to submit proposals during the meetings. According to a Beijing News’ report on May 23, Jieqing Tan, deputy to the NPC, suggested setting up a special fund for blockchain industry development. If accepted, this fund would be led by the government. 

The aim of the fund is to support the development and growth of a number of promising blockchain enterprises, encourage blockchain technology innovation, and cultivate a number of unicorn enterprises in the blockchain space, says Tan.

Smart governance through blockchain

By supporting the development of the blockchain industry, Tan believes it will “modernize” the country’s governance system.  

Blockchain technology not only will be a great tool to push China towards smart governance and a high-trust society, it can also help China to gain an upper hand globally in the future development of the technology, according to Tan. He thinks by taking this technology innovation lead, China will be able to better protect its sovereignty and national security. 

Tan suggested that a clear national blockchain industry development plan should be defined. He explained that: 

“From the bottom technology standard, middle industry application development to the top-level system design, the national blockchain technology, industry and supervision three-dimensional strategic planning system should be well coordinated.”

Current challenges and initiatives 

The new economic potential and new job opportunities derived from blockchain technology is huge. However Tan pointed out that currently the number of limited blockchain enterprises, its scalability and lack of talent and information has been the main problems preventing the blockchain ecosystem from developing a well established ecosystem. 

As Cointelegraph reported previously, China’s central bank also secured $4.7 million in funding for its blockchain trade platform over the next three years. The tax bureau of Beijing announced its blockchain invoicing pilot application for a more eco-friendly, convenient and transparent future governance.