Bank of China and Tencent test new blockchain research

The Bank of China has partnered with Tencent, one of the country’s largest internet companies, to test the use of blockchain technology in financial applications.

The two companies announced their partnership this week, saying they would create a new research space to develop new products. Artificial intelligence and blockchain are two of the two research areas, with the ultimate goal of building a financial technology cloud platform to reduce risks and improve efficiency, according to local news .

The news also stated that the Bank of China, together with other major state-owned commercial banks, recently stated that it would cooperate with private enterprises to study financial technology and blockchain.

Earlier this month, Agricultural Bank of China announced a partnership with search giant Baidu, while Industrial and Commercial Bank of China launched a similar project with e-commerce company JD.com. As early as March this year, China Construction Bank had already started a scientific research project with Alibaba.

The research activity further indicated that there is a growing interest in blockchain technology among China’s private sector, with supply chain management emerging as an important use case.

Insurance group ZhongAn plans to use the technology to track the origin of poultry shipments, while Walmart, IBM and Tsinghua University in Beijing jointly launched a similar program last fall to track pork supplies.