Leading the drive is Alipay’s Ant Financial, in helping to impose some level of trust and accountability amidst the operational chaos.

As the COVID-19 pandemic intensifies globally, Chinese technology companies are demonstrating how adoption of digitalization in different sectors can help overcome many of the limitations currently in place thanks to travel bans and home quarantine orders.

In particular, many Chinese technology companies have developed innovative solutions using blockchain technology to solve real world problems. Here are some examples:

  • Alipay launched a blockchain-powered online information platform to share epidemic prevention materials on its mobile app. The platform integrates Ant Blockchain technology and is being led by the Health Commission and Committee of Economic and Information technology of Zhejiang Province.
  • Ant Financial has also launched a blockchain-powered online bid opening system that enables SMEs to remotely participate in contactless bidding during the outbreak. Ant’s consortium blockchain technology ensures that materials and processes of bid openings are tamper proof, ensuring that even contactless bidding is transparent and trustworthy.
  • Ant Duo-Chain, a blockchain-powered supply chain finance platform, developed by Ant Financial, is helping many small and medium sized suppliers to apply for loans from banks based on their receivables from large enterprises. The platform helps these companies deal with the financial constraints that many businesses are going through.
  • Finally, front-line medical workers in Hubei Province are receiving much-needed donations of face masks, medical equipment and cash through a blockchain-based donation tracking platform, Shanzhong. This initiative is being run by startup Hyperchain and China Xiong’an Group.

According to the latest IDC forecast, China’s enterprise blockchain spending will hit US$2 billion in 2023, as the country continues to ramp up the development of the technology.

Meanwhile, elsewhere on the blockchain front, Bitcoin has lost some of its allure as a stable store of value. The cryptocurrency has fallen below US$5,000 amidst sharp increases in gold and treasuries.