China's social security system begins using blockchain to reduce costs and improve efficiency

The Chinese government is using blockchain technology to pay social security benefits, such as unemployment benefits and pensions. According to a report in China Daily Overseas Edition today, Wang Zhongmin, vice chairman of the China Social Security Fund Council, said:

“There is no doubt that blockchain technology will be used in the social security system because it has value in investing and managing social security funds.”

The Social Security Fund Council manages nearly $300 billion in assets and has an annual budget growth of 24.6%. Since blockchain can eliminate middlemen, they hope to reduce costs and improve efficiency by using blockchain technology in clearing, settlement, payment and record keeping.

This is also the latest move by the Chinese government to embrace blockchain technology, and it seems to be promoting blockchain as Shanghai is about to host the industry's largest blockchain summit and invite many celebrities to participate.

Such an announcement may come from the Chinese government, or an alliance related to the Chinese government, but there is no specific information.

China's Rise

The biggest surprise of recent decades is that China is leading the world in the application of these new technologies. Fintech is mainstream. Internet giants Tencent and Ant Financial account for more than half of China's payment processing business, and the two giants are also engaged in an epic battle for market dominance.

To illustrate the scale of these two companies more clearly, for example, Tencent's WePay recently stopped subsidizing bank transaction fees, with the subsidy in January alone reaching $50 million, while Ant Financial recently raised $4.5 billion, becoming the most funded fintech company.

We know that the banking infrastructure in western China is very lacking, but with the advent of the Internet, these companies can directly use the latest technology to provide these financial services. QR codes are everywhere, they can transfer money through WeChat, they can chat with smart robot advisors, and they can invest within an hour.

America awaits new management

The West of England claims that their regulatory environment is the best for fintech, but we haven't heard similar statements from the U.S. But there are some regulatory discussions in this area, and new management is expected to be elected within two months to take over these matters.

We asked Trump and Hillary about their attitudes towards blockchain technology and financial technology, but did not receive a response. In addition, the campaign websites of both candidates do not mention their attitudes towards financial technology or blockchain.

Although it’s still early days, it’s only been two months, and considering the billions in savings blockchain technology could deliver, and the multi-trillion market size of IoT, we can expect to hear what Trump and Hillary have to say about these new technologies and how their administrations are applying these innovations.