March is of particular importance for Chinese bitcoiners and blockchain startups. As they are waiting for the government voice on crypto and blockchain during the annual Lianghui or two sessions of China’s top legislative and advisory bodies in Beijing in early March. Blockchain is under the spotlight among the top topics of highest interest during the two sessions as CPPCC (Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference) & NPC (National People’s Congress) members from various sectors are making voices on it. And a number of regions aim to be China’s blockchain hub.

Wang Pengjie, a CPPCC member, proposed to build a digital asset trading platform of the national level,

“Considering the total market cap of crypto asset including bitcoin, ether and litecoin powered by blockchain has surpassed that of Tencent (China’s largest Internet company) as of early January 2018, regulation on blockchain-powered digital asset projects and real-name verification in individual blockchain account shall be carried out. And more information for digital asset investors shall be provided, as well as building a digital asset trading platform of the national level.”

Yu Minhong, chairman of New Oriental Education & Technology Group (NYSE: EDU) and a CPPCC member said,

“The emergence of blockchain is a challenge to all future business connections. The modern business connections rely on the internet and AI, the advent of blockchain ushers in the notion of decentralization, which frees the intermediary existence between two parties.”

Pony Ma, founder of Tencent, said yes to blockchain but no to ICO. The key lies in how to make good use of this technology. Robin Li, Baidu CEO, said blockchain is a very revolutionary technology but it’s still in a very early stage. Ding Lei, CEO of NetEase (a dotcom giant in China), thinks there’s speculation and hype in blockchain, “the technology is by no means bad, but be cautious about speculation on this concept.”

Zhang Jindong, a NPC member and president of Suning (one of the largest retailer in China),

proposed to create a cross-region and cross-industry platform for data sharing that is open to the whole society by introducing the AI and blockchain technology.

Zhou Yanli, a CPPCC member and former vice president of China Insurance Regulatory Commission, voiced

the insurance industry could leverage blockchain technology to improve service efficiency and quality.

China Democratic League suggests

to initiate the blockchain-based sci-tech ID system,

and National Council for Social Security Fund said

blockchain would be a boon for the country’s social security pension system.

All these in the country’s biggest political event indicates that blockchain now is not limited to a virtual concept, and real actions are coming soon…