TL;DR Breakdown:
- The Shanghai government has funded its first public, permissionless blockchain project.
- The government donated more than $5 million.
Conflux, a Beijing-based blockchain company, announced on Tuesday, it secured funding from the Shanghai government to spearhead it’s public chain’s research. The development holds a milestone as the Chinese government is probably backing its public, permissionless blockchain project. Although the Chinese government is supportive of blockchain technology adoption in several sectors, the country has mostly focused on building permissioned blockchain.
In the announcement, the blockchain company noted that it secured more than $5 million for its public chain’s research. Precisely, the research grant was funded by the Changning District government and the Shanghai Science and Technology Committee. As part of the project, Conflux will also work to support a proposed aerospace supply chain, which will be developed on their blockchain network. The company also said its project has been added in the latest Shanghai gov’t Five-Year Plan.
Conflux views the Shanghai government funding as an important development, given that permissioned blockchain projects are more common in the country. “While the amount of money granted is important, it is the government’s signal to support a public permissionless chain like Conflux that matters the most for us,” said Fan Long, the co-founder of the blockchain startup.
Don’t expect an ICO
Noteworthily, the development today is coming about a year after the Shanghai government said it would support Conflux in establishing an incubation center, including a research institute. At the time, however, the government didn’t disclose any amount it planned in committing to support the company’s research.
Since the launch of the blockchain company in 2018, they have been able to raise about $35 million through the process of a private token sale, particularly for wealthy investors. The company doesn’t intend to engage in any initial coin offering (ICO) process, as the central bank (PBOC) banned such offering back in 2017.
