China’s unending determination to control the evolving global blockchain industry has been pronounced by an update that the Alibaba Group Holding alone claimed over 10% of all blockchain patents globally in 2017.

Champions of Intellectual Property Rights

An investigation conducted by Thomson Reuters depicted that 56% of all the 406 blockchain patents distributed in 2017 were from China, with the US being runners-up with 22%. Propelled by the swift increase in blockchain patent filings from 134 in 2016 to 406 in 2017, the information depicts an underground intellectual property rights competition that China is evidently leading.

The Nikkel Asian Evaluation highlights that out of the 406 blockchain patents distributed in 2017, Alibaba alone filed 43 of them. Other Chinese tech companies- Tencent and Baidu- also topped the list of blockchain patent holders.

In terms of the overall number of blockchain patents filed, the United States is still the leader, but China is condensing the gap, and on a yearly level China is essentially the best.

China’s Preference of Blockchain to Crypto

China records a conducive atmosphere of governing aggression to cryptocurrencies and ICOs, having drafted a comprehensive restriction on all crypto businesses and ICO fundraising at the start of 2017. Since the implementation of the restriction begun, supplementary limits and online eliminations have become common in an attempt of imposing bans.

Alibaba’s Mega Projects  

Recently, Wuchang Municipality of China’s Heilongjiang Province ventured into a blockchain collaboration with Alibaba’s junior branches- Ant Financial and Alipay– with the motive of controlling food fraud and safeguarding customer confidence.

The Wuchang Municipality is well known for its exceptional high-quality rice products, but a recent flood of counterfeiting occurrences has declined customer trust and condensed the earnings of farmers. This collaboration provides an Internet of Things (IoT) tracking invention and a blockchain technology, certifying that each pack of Wuchang rice traded on Alibaba’s Tmall site has a supply chain evident to customers through a QR code.

Besides, the Alibaba Group Holding is also initiating similar anti-food counterfeit projects in Australia and New Zealand.