Originally posted by the Voice of America.
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Xi Jinping's Blockchain Gambit Suggests Lively Communist Party Plenum

Joyce Huang

   China's ruling Communist Party has begun its long-awaited Fourth Plenum
   this week -- a four-day closed-door meeting that is expected to set
   major policies for years to come and discuss crises ranging from Hong
   Kong to China's nearly 2-year-old trade war with the United States.

   In the lead-up to the plenum, President Xi Jinping has called for China
   to urgently invest in blockchain technology, the innovative but still
   largely unproven technology behind Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.
   Some analysts are viewing the proposal as a long-shot bid to stimulate
   an economy that has been hard hit by the trade dispute with Washington.

   "We must take the blockchain as an important breakthrough for
   independent innovation of core technologies," Xi was quoted as having
   told the Political Bureau of the ruling party's Central Committee last
   week.

   "[We must] clarify the main direction, increase investment, focus on a
   number of key core technologies, and accelerate the development of
   blockchain technology and industrial innovation." The remarks sparked a
   surge in the value of Bitcoin and other blockchain-related products and
   technologies.

   A blockchain is a time-stamped series of immutable data records,
   managed by cluster of computers not owned by any single entity. The
   technology relies for security on a highly decentralized network or a
   democratized system, which runs counter to the Chinese leadership's
   usual insistence on centralized power.
   Blockchain fever
   "Xi's rushing to touch upon [blockchain technology] and fueling the
   blockchain fever shows that he couldn't find other feasible stories to
   boost the local economy," said a Chinese economics professor who spoke
   to VOA on the condition of anonymity to speak freely about Chinese
   economic policy.
   He added the technology is still in its early stage of development in
   China, with fraudulent activities being exposed from time to time.
   The economist predicted a heated discussion on blockchain during the
   plenum, given the pressure on the ruling party to find answers to the
   slowing economy and rising unemployment. But that debate is unlikely to
   end with agreement on a clear policy direction, he said, given the
   party's reluctance to ease its control over the political and economic
   landscape.

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