Chinese city seeks to power urban governance and more using blockchain tech

Authorities in Chengdu, China plan to adopt blockchain for several use cases throughout the city, including urban governance, cross-border trade, smart manufacturing, and agriculture.

According to a local media outlet, Red Star News, this plan will allow blockchain adoption applications to be submitted by contributors in a variety of fields such as education, healthcare, financial services, and intellectual property.

Authorities expect to form around "Two to three" blockchain cluster development areas as part of this program over the next two years.

The plan also mentioned blockchain's usefulness when it comes to legal compliance, stating that officials expect to strengthen data collection and to promote the "Unified management, risk prevention, and control" of urban operations.

The secretary of the Party Group of the Chengdu New Economy Committee stated that blockchain could additionally be applied to the medical field.

He suggested that distributed technology could be used for electronic medical records, electronic prescription circulation, material verification, vaccine traceability, and medical data sharing purposes.

During an interview with The Paper, Wu Zhongze, China's former vice-minister for Science and Technology, stated that there was "Not much difference between where China and leading economies such as the United States and Europe" stand in terms of developing blockchain-based ecosystems.