Chinese E-commerce giant Baidu who is also one of the major movers and shakers when it comes to adopting blockchain technology, and it just launched a beta version of a blockchain service called “Xuperchain,” based on a local report. If successful, this could spur more gains for the Reality Shares Nasdaq NexGen Economy ETF (NASDAQ: BLCN).
BLCN seeks long-term growth by tracking the investment returns of the Reality Shares Nasdaq Blockchain Economy Index, which is designed to measure the returns of companies that are committing material resources to developing, researching, supporting, innovating or utilizing blockchain technology for their proprietary use or for use by other blockchain-focused companies.
What does “Xuperchain” exactly do?
“The service is supposed to let small and medium-size businesses and developers cheaply launch so-called decentralized applications, or dapps,”an MIT Technology Review report noted. “It’s also just one of the hundreds of blockchain projects in the works in China, where President Xi Jinping recently called for the nation to lead the world in blockchain technology development.”
“Blockchains allow peers and competitors who don’t necessarily trust each other to share valuable data in a secure way,” the report added. “Decentralized applications are built using blockchain-based computer programs, called smart contracts. Members of a blockchain network can use them to automate certain kinds of transactions. For instance, the automatic transfer of valuable data from one user to another could be made contingent on another input, like a verified payment.”
China Leading the Charge in Blockchain
China continues to bolster its global position as a purveyor of cryptocurrencies and its underlying technology, blockchain, as the Bank of China is utilizing the technology to issue $2.8 billion in financial bonds, according to a Cointelegraph report.
The bonds will consist of debt issues from small companies and micro enterprises—a move by China to strengthen its businesses to help develop its economy. With the U.S.-China trade wars lingering in the backdrop, the second largest economy is looking to wean itself off dependence on the U.S. in certain sectors.
Per the Coin Telegraph report, 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.”
Cointelegraph also reported that China will continue to enhance its blockchain technology at an estimated compound annual growth rate of 65.7% through the year 2023. Additionally, translated to dollars, that growth should equate to $2 billion by that same year.
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