Blockchain firms increase sixfold in China

In the United States, there are currently 817 companies with the word blockchain in their registered names, while in the UK there are only 335.

The trend in China to add the word blockchain could suggest tech firms are attempting to attract investors interested in the open ledger technology, as companies did during the 1990s internet bubble when they attached “.com” or “.net” to their names.

Authorities in Hangzhou, the capital of Zhejiang province, recently announced $1.2 billion of funding for blockchain projects. The officials claim the fund is the biggest of its kind around the world.

China has filed 225 blockchain-related patent applications in 2017, which is more than half of all patents filed globally, according to Reuters.

“Blockchain is a useful innovation, but that doesn’t mean cryptocurrencies, which blockchain has given rise to, are necessarily useful,” said the head of the international department of the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission, Fan Wenzhong.