The People’s Daily has once again reassured readers that China is not only pro blockchain technology with an almost full page spread (in Chinese), but should also create “an invincible position in the future international blockchain battle.” While the technology is still immature, the paper says that government policy will continue to help the technology to develop in China. Blockchain, contrary to some opinions, is in fact highly suited to regulatory oversight meaning information held in it is more easily supervised in real time.

The People’s Daily is commonly referred to as the “mouthpiece” of the Communist Party and has been prolific in its editorializing about blockchain. Around two-thirds of the spread in today’s paper is devoted to “Three Questions on Blockchain,” an explainer of the technology with insight from industry experts. The rest is “Grab the Blockchain Opportunity”, the views of Dou Jiali, a researcher at Peking University’s Guanghua Financial Technology Research Institute.

The first two questions—“What is blockchain?” and “How can blockchain be used?”—are a little unhelpful. The third question—“Is blockchain the new panacea?” (区块链会成新风口吗?)—reveals much of how policymakers are probably thinking about blockchain.

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