China is not the country you would expect to be the largest source of patent applications for new blockchain technologies. The regulation of the crypto industry is nothing to write home about, and there is still an almost explicit ban on using and owning cryptocurrencies. Yet the country is a champion in applying for blockchain patents.
Most requests come from China
Wang Jianwei, vice director of the Information Technology Development Office, said: South China Morning Post. This institute is part of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. A whopping 84% of all blockchain patents are filed in China.
That indicates that the industry in China is still very much alive, despite it being virtually illegal to use cryptocurrencies. Blockchain and crypto are of course often mentioned in one sentence, but they are not inextricably linked. Outside the finance world, blockchain can be used to protect the privacy of internet users, the business newspaper notes.
It is perfectly possible to put information on a blockchain for, for example, trust, without a crypto-asset being linked to it. This is ideal for China, which seems to consider the risk of diminishing use of the yuan too great. The government is also experimenting with airdropping digital yuan after the strict corona lockdowns in the country. Like many other countries, China is working on a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC).
Few Chinese patents approved
Although 84% of applications are Chinese, only 20% are approved, according to South China Morning Post. Thus, net about 17% of the approved patents worldwide are of Chinese origin. Then we assume that all patents from other countries will be approved, which is unlikely. Still, we can expect other countries to approve far more than a fifth of the patents.
China is also active in the blockchain industry outside of academia. The majority of mining hardware still comes from the eastern country. Bitmain is by far the largest manufacturer of ASIC hardware, also this company is Chinese. Also, despite the severe sanctions, it continues to manufacture competing ASIC hardware itself.