China launches blockchain-powered data exchange

During the 2023 Hangzhou Summit held in Hangzhou, China, government officials unveiled a new data exchange powered by blockchain technology. Over 300 enterprises, including Alibaba Cloud and Huawei, participated in the exchange’s debut.

According to local news reports from Aug. 23, the new Hangzhou Data Exchange will facilitate the trading of enterprise information technology data using distributed ledger technology. Officials said the platform would ensure exchange trades are immutable and traceable. Chen Chun, director of the National Laboratory of Blockchain and Data Security, commented: 

“[The Hangzhou Data Exchange] utilizes research blockchain, privacy computing and other technologies to realize trusted sharing and effective use of data across departments and regions under data security and privacy protection.”

In 2022, Hangzhou’s digital economy sector surpassed 500 billion Chinese yuan ($69 billion), accounting for nearly 27% of the city’s gross domestic product.

Despite cracking down harshly on private blockchain enterprises for much of the year, China is a staunch supporter of government-controlled blockchain efforts. 

During the initial opening of the 2023 Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Conference, Chinese President Xi Jinping said that central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) played an important role in “expanding the share of local currency settlements of SCO countries.” Recently, over 100 million yuan ($13.8 million) worth of the digital yuan CBDC was airdropped to Chinese residents to stimulate domestic spending. 

That said, not all initiatives have gone well. On Dec. 28, 2022, Cointelegraph reported that the country was supposedly in the final stages of launching its national nonfungible token exchange, CDEX. The platform remains under development at the time of publication. 

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