China forms a national standards committee for blockchain to drive ‘high-tech innovation’

The Standardization Administration of China (SAC), the standards organization authorized by the State Council of China, has set up a national standards committee for blockchain technology to boost “high-tech innovation.”

Announced Wednesday, the SAC said the technical committee is “progressing in an orderly manner” to help “high-tech innovation,” promote “high levels of openness” and lead “high-quality development.”

The SAC further said that it had established several such technical committees covering different sectors, including sharing economy. It aims to “more effectively play the role of standardization work and service economic development” through these “national professional standardization technical committees.”

The SAC supervises all standardization work in China, according to the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). It represents China within the ISO, the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) and other international and regional standardization organizations.

China has been going gung-ho about blockchain, especially since China’s President Xi Jinping publicly supported the technology in October. Earlier this month, government authorities in Shanghai, along with China’s central bank and other banks, formed a blockchain alliance to improve trade finance operations. China is also almost ready to launch its national digital currency after five years of research and development.