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A recent report by China News claims that the University of Science and Technology Business School was given $20 million for research into blockchain technology and potential improvements in electronic payment system security.

New blockchain study project

The Hong Kong-based Business School called HKUST (Hong Kong University of Science and Technology) recently received a large donation to fund the study of blockchain and security within payment systems. The research project came as a result of HKUST’s recent partnership with HKU (University of Hong Kong), CityU (City University of Hong Kong), and CUHK (Chinese University of Hong Kong).

The goal is to explore potential applications of blockchain tech and enhance the security systems of electronic payment processes. The parties will also discuss the potential of Hong Kong to become a new global financial technology hub.

The research will be spearheaded by one of the professors, Tan Jiayin, best known for his research called “Strengthening Hong Kong’s Strategic Position as a Regional and International Business Center”. The focus of his research is on the blockchain tech itself, as well as AI and network security. Considering that cryptocurrencies will be a large part of the new project, the professor also encouraged various banks to participate in the research.

The world goes toward blockchain

Last year, the government of Hong Kong set out to reduce time and human resources in the finance industry. The goal was to eliminate the risk of scams and frauds and, to do so, they announced plans to create a new trade financing system that would be powered by the blockchain. This system was expected to help the country with its participation in a Belt and Road Initiative, hosted in China, to improve the trade links between the country and its trading partners around the world.

Efforts to create blockchain-based payments have been a large focus for many countries and organizations recently. Back in June of this very year the subsidiary of Alibaba, Ant Financial, attempted their first-ever blockchain remittances. Ant Financial, former AliPay, tried to send a transaction from their app in Hong Kong to a payment app GCash in the Philippines. The transaction was successful and only took three seconds, a massive improvement on cross-border transactions that used to take hours or even days.

Finally, last month, Ping An Group’s fintech subsidiary and the Monetary Authority of Hong Kong released an announcement setting out their plans to launch a blockchain trade finance solution. According to the announcement, the solution will include 21 banks and its aim will be to cut the time taken and bureaucracy in signing additional fledgling businesses. They plan to do so by allowing transactions to go much smoother, and thus improve access to banking services.