China’s “Blockchain” Names Booming

From the beginning of this year until July 16th, China has seen a sixfold surge in companies with “blockchain” in their names, the South China Morning Post (SCMP) reported. According to estimates based on data gathered by Qixin.com, the country now has more than 4,000 such businesses.

Qukualian is the Chinese translation of “blockchain” and was found in 3,078 companies in the past six and a half months – this is up from 555 from the whole of last year. The blockchain name game in China echoes the trend during the internet bubble in the late 1990s when many companies around the world added “dot-com” or “dot-net” to their names to capitalize on investor appetite for internet-related enterprises.

China’s boom is not even quite comparable to the western world. For example, there are currently a total of 817 companies in the US and 335 in the UK using blockchain in their registered names, according to data from OpenCorporates.com.

Although cryptocurrency exchanges, initial coin offerings and cryptocurrency mining are all either frowned upon or outright banned, blockchain development is encouraged in China. According to the China Internet Report, the local governments of Shanghai, Shanxi, Henan, Guangzhou, Guiyang and Hangzhou have all issued policies to encourage blockchain development. The report further states that about 41% of startups that received funding in China in the first quarter of last year were blockchain-related enterprises.

China’s support for blockchain technology may not come as a surprise. Earlier this year, at a major legislative session in Beijing known as “Two Sessions,” blockchain technology and cryptocurrency regulation were among the topics discussed in detail – and the takeaway was that blockchain has many use cases and should be encouraged to grow.