China’s President, Xi Jinping, sent waves through the industry with his speech on blockchain technology last week. 

The leader of the Communist Party of China reaffirmed the trend of the past five years with his keynote speech that welcomed the dawn of blockchain technology in the country. He told members of the party:

“WE MUST TAKE THE BLOCKCHAIN AS AN IMPORTANT BREAKTHROUGH FOR INDEPENDENT INNOVATION OF CORE TECHNOLOGIES.”

Many provinces across China had already been utilizing the technology behind cryptocurrencies but now Xi wants it to be a national policy as he believes it will give China an edge in economics and governance.

The reaction from across the world was impressive. Bitcoin saw a huge price jump of around 13%, with many commentators talking of a Xi pump. Figures show just how influential Xi’s words were to all parts of the industry as the figure below shows the price jump not just for Bitcoin but other altcoins.

Blockchain companies in China also saw a huge jump in interest. According to an index put together by East Money Information, 200 companies that invest in blockchain technology saw their stocks go up around 8% on the Monday following Xi’s speech. 

Commentators from the West and in China were all looking to analyze what Xi’s comments mean for the industry as a whole and where this leaves the industry in China, a nation who has banned cryptocurrencies and many related industries within its borders. Exchanges also looked to jump on the Xi created hype. 

Here is a compilation of the leading responses from those in the know as well as the reactions from industry institutions:

China

With the news abuzz with Xi’s comments and the Bitcoin price jump, many saw this as potentially the dawn of a cryptocurrency era in China. This was all despite Xi not mentioning cryptocurrencies apart from to say they should be regulated and not withdrawing China’s ban. 

Yet so great was the reaction from many, the state media newspaper China Daily had to clarify that Xi made little mention of crypto and warned, “We must remain rational”. The paper also said: 

“THE RISE OF BLOCKCHAIN TECHNOLOGY WAS ACCOMPANIED BY THAT OF CRYPTOCURRENCIES, BUT INNOVATION IN BLOCKCHAIN TECHNOLOGY DOES NOT MEAN WE SHOULD SPECULATE IN VIRTUAL CURRENCIES.”

However, perhaps this was too little too late from the government. Universities rolled out blockchain courses and the Chinese public was certainly more enamored with the industry. This was illustrated in the huge amounts of people seeking out information on Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. Wechat searches increased tenfold with 9 million people searching for Blockchain and 1 million typing Bitcoin into the search bar. 

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