Wanxiang Group plans to set up a $50 million blockchain fund to support all crypto 2.0 projects

Wanxiang Group, one of China’s largest auto parts manufacturers, plans to invest in blockchain technology through two new initiatives.

Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin mentioned Wanxiang Group's investment in Ethereum in his blog yesterday. Subsequently, Chao Deng, executive director of Wanxiang Group's subsidiary DataYes, confirmed to coindesk that the group has invested $500,000 to purchase 416,000 Ethereum native tokens ETH.

It is reported that this investment is only the first step of Wanxiang Group’s “multi-pronged” plan. First, Wanxiang Group established a non-profit organization called Blockchain Lab, whose co-founders are Xiao Feng, Vice Chairman and Executive Director of China Wanxiang Holdings Co., Ltd., Vitalik Buterin, founder of Ethereum, and Shen Bo, co-founder of BitShares.

The blockchain lab will then set up a 5000万美元fund to invest in blockchain application technology projects with commercial prospects. Wanxiang Group is not the only limited partner (LP).

In the interview, Chao pointed out that Wanxiang Group currently has about 10 subsidiaries in the financial industry, including insurance, banking, futures and asset management.

Chao told CoinDesk:

“About two years ago, we saw the rise of blockchain technology and started researching it. We were very optimistic about its prospects. We knew that blockchain technology had broad application prospects. We didn’t set any specific goals, but we saw opportunities.”

Chao confirmed that the lab’s $50 million fund will support all Crypto 2.0 projects.

Mr. Shen Bo said:

“We maintain the spirit of openness, transparency and equality. Ethereum is definitely the leading project for distributed encryption 2.0 applications. Wanxiang Group will not be the only LP of the fund, and Ethereum will not be the only project funded.”

According to Chao, the legal structure of the two entities is currently being established.

Blockchain Lab

According to Shen Bo, the blockchain lab will promote education about blockchain technology and be used to fund research and experiments in the field.

As part of the plan, Wanxiang Group pledged to provide $1 million to Wanxiang Blockchain Lab each year for the next three years. Half of the funds in the first year will be used to purchase Ether, Shen Bo revealed.

“(Blockchain Labs) will promote the community and distribute ETH for non-profit purposes that can promote education and benefit projects, for example,” he said.

Shen Bo said that once the $50 million fund is legally established, its likely name will be "分布式".

Although the fund’s name is in Chinese, Shen Bo revealed that one-third of the projects the blockchain lab is seeking to fund are denominated in RMB, and the rest are denominated in US dollars.

2015 First Global Blockchain Summit

In addition, the 2015 First Global Blockchain Summit "Blockchain - New Economic Blueprint" is scheduled to be held in Shanghai on October 15 and 16, and the conference organizer is万向区块链实验室.

It is expected that about 200 professionals from the financial industry including banking, payment, securities, commodities and other industries interested in the application prospects of blockchain technology from around the world, including those from the Central Bank's Financial Research Institute, the Central Bank's Credit Reference Center, the Shanghai Stock Exchange, Lufax, Deloitte, etc., will attend the summit.

Representatives from the Bitcoin and blockchain community included Circle VP of Trading Joshua Lim, Koinify CEO Tom Ding, and Tether CTO Craig Sellars.

“In China and many other regions, the common problem is that many professionals in traditional industries don’t understand blockchain,” Chao said, adding:

"We hope to provide them with an opportunity to better understand the technology."

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