Bank of China Uses Blockchain to Issue $2.8B Worth of Financial Bonds

The adoption rate of blockchain technology in China continues to impress as the Bank of China has reportedly issued 20 billion yuan ($2.8 billion) in blockchain-based special financial bonds for small and micro-enterprises.

According to local news outlet Sina Finance in early December, the funds are specifically used to issue loans to these Chinese small and micro-sized companies to support their continued development in the economy.

As of the end of September, the Bank of China issued around 404 billion yuan ($57.7 billion) to 410,000 small and micro enterprise customers, representing an increase of 35% since a year ago.

As a reference, micro-enterprises generally have fewer than 10 employees, while small companies have up to 50 employees.

China and blockchain technology

The news comes as the Chinese government is attaching an ever-increasing level of importance to the digital economy. Earlier in December, Forkast Insights, the research arm of Asia-based Forkast, took an in-depth, comprehensive look at how blockchain technology is integrated in China.

The report pointed out that blockchain technology is rapidly maturing in China and has a slew of “real-world, practical use cases that are far beyond the experimental stage.” 

In November, Cointelegraph reported that China’s blockchain development will see a compound annual growth rate of 65.7% from 2018 to 2023, and that the technology will exceed $2 billion by the end of 2023.

China’s central bank to lead real-world pilot of digital yuan

Meanwhile, the People’s Bank of China, China’s central bank, is going full speed ahead to launch a digital token to challenge the United States dollar. The bank is planning to conduct the first real-world test of its central bank digital currency. The initial pilot for the CBDC is set for the city of Shenzhen before the end of 2019, and could also include the city of Suzhou.

Under the watchful eye of the PBoC, four major banks and major economic participants like China Telecom will reportedly test digital currency payments.