On March 30, 2019, the National Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) issued registration numbers to nearly 200 distributed ledger technology ()-based firms in the region as part of its broader plan of regulating, securing, strengthening, and advancing the growth of the industry, according to local news source Yicai.
Chinese DLT Firms Get Licensed
Based on the , the CAC has issued registration numbers to the first set of 197 blockchain-based service providers in China who have officially registered.
These are companies who made filings to be registered and have been approved to render services in the region. They include , a technology company, , an investment holding company, and , an online video platform.
Before their approval, the CAC reportedly reviewed their applications in a manner that conforms with the laws and regulations presented on February 15, 2019, by the Management Rules on Blockchain Information Service.
CY Cheung, a partner of PwC Shanghai, told Yicai that the CAC’s filling regulation is in line with its fundamental principle of strengthening, securing, and developing the country’s financial industry.
Cheung further said the national policy was revealed last year and as such, news about the successful filing of these applications was only recently published which also calls for those who have not registered to do so.
Stakeholders’ Comments
Some blockchain-based service providers in the region who made comments include Sunny Lu, CEO of the (VET) project and Feng Xiao, President and CEO of Wanxiang Blockchain.
According to Xiao, the commercial benefits companies stand to reap through the development of blockchain-based applications has been an incentive to create them; however, there will be no developments in blockchain if applications were not built on the DLT.
Even if these applications are developed, there will be no one to use them without first complying and registering in the region.
According to Yicai, earlier in March, Hongliang Mao, an engineer from CNC, pointed out that all firms that use DLT in their operations in one way or the other must make efforts to submit their applications.
If they make use of the Internet, applications, and other tools which employ public, consortium or private blockchains to provide their customers’ with highly functional services, then they must come under the CAC umbrella.
On the other hand, the official also made it clear that blockchain-focused media firms are not required to apply for a license since they do not use DLT to render their services.
While the Chinese blockchain space continues flourishing, its harsh stance towards and other cryptos has taken its toll on some firms in the cryptospace.
As BTCManager on January 30, 2019, Nvidia, a firm that manufactures GPUs for cryptocurrency mining, blamed the decline in its Q4 2018 revenue on China’s draconian crypto regulations among other factors.
Published at Tue, 02 Apr 2019 06:10:44 +0000
