City government in China to invest $1.4M annually in public blockchain projects 'without token'

A local government agency in the Chinese city of Guangzhou plans to provide subsidies to two blockchain projects per year - a public blockchain project that doesn’t have a token will receive a maximum subsidy of 10 million yuan (~$1.4 million) and a consortium blockchain project will get a maximum subsidy of 3 million yuan (~$425,000).

According to an official document dated Oct. 28, a public blockchain is a trustworthy network that does not have any centralized node, with each node entering and leaving the network freely. However, the document does not clarify what a public blockchain "without a token" means.  Ideally, a public blockchain is open for all, meaning people are able to own tokens.

Qualified applicants for the subsidies should either run a public blockchain that has more than 100 nodes and processes over 10,000 transactions, or run a consortium blockchain that has over 30 nodes with 3,000 transactions. 

The Guangzhou government also intends to establish a 1 billion yuan (~$142 million) fund to invest in blockchain-related companies, although details of the fund are yet to be determined. 

This is not the first time a city government in China is backing a blockchain fund. Last year, the governments of Nanjing, Hangzhou and Shenzhen, launched blockchain funds of $1 billion, $1.6 billion and $80 million, respectively.

Just last week, China’s President Xi Jinping publicly supported blockchain technology and said that the country should take a leading position in blockchain development.