China marks 2017 with a tremendous growth of blockchain startups

Around 40 percent of all Chinese blockchain startups came out in 2017 alone, the new paper published by China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology reads.

According to the paper, China currently has 456 startups that focus on blockchain technology development and applications as part of their main business.

CoinDesk reports that while the number of new blockchain firms in 2016 had tripled compared to that in 2015, 2017 saw “exponential” growth with a total of 178 new startups.

The report also reads that currently there are 249 equity financing initiatives that directly relate to blockchain startups, and nearly 100 of them were founded in 2017 which is more than the total recorded from 2014 to 2016.

In the first quarter of 2018 the industry has seen 68 equity financing initiatives for blockchain startups.

The 157-page white paper represents the latest effort by the Chinese government to bring knowledge of the nascent technology to the public, and shed light on future development – especially regarding regulatory frameworks.

The full report (in Chinese) is available here.