The Xi Effect: China To Invest Over $2 Billion On Blockchain In 2023

The Chinese involvement with blockchain is set to increase even further. According to a recent report, the giant country will increase its blockchain investments, which are expected to surpass $2 billion in 2023. The news may not come as a surprise as the total interest in China has risen after President Xi’s endorsement a few weeks ago.

China To Spend $2 Billion On Blockchain

The global market intelligence company, IDC, recently published a report showing that China’s take on blockchain technology-based businesses will increase massively over the next few years. The country is set to increase the yearly spending amount on blockchain technology and is planned to exceed $2 billion in 2023. As per the estimation from the report, this would mean a compounding growth rate of over 65% per year.

In 2019, the country is mainly targeting the banking sector for its blockchain endeavors. However, with the rise of usage in other fields like retail, manufacturing, and professional services, China is purportedly ready to make changes and to allocate further financing for those sectors as well.

According to a researched in IDC, this official recognition will push even further the application of blockchain.

China And Blockchain

China has somewhat of an alluring history when it comes down to blockchain. Back in 2017, the country banned cryptocurrency trading, which led to some serious changes in the industry, such as the popular crypto exchange Binance having to relocate from China to Malta.

However, it all appears to have changed last month, when President Xi Jinping announced the future Chinese involvement towards blockchain. As per Jinping, “we must increase investments in the blockchain sector, resolve critical technical problems, and accelerate the development of blockchain and industrial innovations.”

Besides the immediate effect that the announcement seemed to have on the price of Bitcoin, which surged by over 40%, the situation in the whole country switched. The interest for blockchain increased dramatically, as shown by searches for the words “blockchain” and “Bitcoin” on WeChat. The popular Chinese application noted a 1,200% increase just a day after Xi’s announcement, and the country introduced a cryptography law, going into effect at the start of 2020.

Additionally, some of the Chinese-based cryptocurrency projects continued to have severe price increases even days after Bitcoin’s price has retraced.

Furthermore, Binance exchange is rumored to look for new offices in Beijing to accompany the one in Shanghai. Besides that, a recent report showed that it’s experiencing a severe interflow from another Chinese-founded exchange – Huobi.