Leaving aside a couple of regulation talks and conferences, China's attitude towards Bitcoin has mostly remained unchanged during the last couple of years. However, according to recent reports, this may change soon enough.
The Chinese Government has recently published a whitepaper, meant to set out some of the key milestones for the development of the blockchain network and technology in the country, which represents its strongest signal so far, that it is ready to encourage the growth of both Bitcoin and its underlying technology, the blockchain.
The move is meant to offer both impetus and incentives to firms willing to push blockchain adoption via various applications, in a wide variety of sectors including smart contracts, payments and more. The report, which is 70 pages long, has been written by a group of nonprofits and financial firms operating in China, and has surprisingly been published by China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.
In the first part of the report, the writers have presented the blockchain alongside with its huge potential and forms of applications throughout the world, thus highlighting areas such as education, business management, finance etc. What's more exciting, however, is the fact that Beijing is trying to set up a couple of international standards for the technology.
This is done by suggesting that both Chinese and international firms and organizations should start taking their roles in the industry more seriously, by becoming more active. This is especially valid for Chinese start-ups who should work in order to gain their right to speak, alongside with more influence on the international bitcoin market. Not only this, but high standards should also be maintained, to ensure successful deployment, alongside with security, development and financial gains.
This shouldn't be too difficult for members of the blockchain community in the region, considering the fact that Chinese miners and exchanges already dominate the bitcoin market. However, their influence on the core protocol and on the international market is quite limited. While their decisions may affect price alongside with bitcoin adoptability, at this moment in time, Chinese firms can't do much to change aspects of the bitcoin protocol.
Additionally, the report also talked about the little exploration carried out by Chinese firms to deal with the financial uses of the blockchain network in banks and other financial institution. The report tends to be a little bit bullish on the technology, yet this is reportedly done to spark more interest.
Based on everything that has been outlined so far, what do you personally think about the Chinese Government's 'whitepaper' on the uses of blockchain? Has China changed its stance in terms of dealing with the fintech market? Let us know your thoughts in the comment section below.