Blockchain ranks as the 5th most sought-after tech among China's fintechs

Despite China’s frosty relationship with the cryptocurrency space, businesses in the country are increasingly embracing the underlying technology in the industry.

In particular, blockchain has emerged as the fifth most preferred technology among leading Chinese fintechs, with a share of 33% as of 2022, according to a study by KPMG.

The technology emerged behind big data, which has a share of 76%, followed by artificial intelligence at 68%, while cloud computing is third, accounting for 41%. The knowledge graph ranks fourth at 34%. Interestingly, blockchain ranked higher than 5G and robot processing automation.

China government blockchain backing

The study pointed out that the high adoption of blockchain technology stems from increased government backing. According to the study:

“Blockchain is an important part of the ‘new infrastructure,’ and its core value lies in the realization of distributed trust, which can effectively solve the problem of information asymmetry between the two sides of transactions in the financial system, and its application prospect is very broad. As the country continues to promote the construction of blockchain infrastructure.”

It is worth noting that despite the ban on activities such as cryptocurrency trading, the Chinese government has been supportive of the development of blockchain technology. In this line, the government actively backs the sector through various initiatives, such as the establishment of blockchain pilot zones and the launch of a national blockchain standard.

However, despite the ban on crypto activities, China continues to account for a share of digital assets investors. In this line, Finbold reported that the country has begun taxing cryptocurrency investors and miners at 20%.

China’s demand for AI

With AI ranking top among technologies embraced by fintech, a recent Finbold report also indicated that the country ranks top among regions embracing related products such as the Text-based platform ChatGPT.

In this line, as of January 13, China recorded the highest popularity score of Google Trends in interest in ChatGPT with a score of 100. The demand has come despite the country having yet to officially allow the tool.