A Chinese regulator has spoken out against blockchain, accusing some of mythologizing the technology, writes Cointelegraph.
Fan Wenzhong, head of the international department of the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission, made the statement during a recent speech at the 5th Fintech Bund Summit in Shanghai on 8 July.
The regulator didn’t deny that blockchain was, in his words, an “innovation with significant meaning”, but went on to say that there was a danger of “mythologizing” it because the idea of multi-entry bookkeeping has been circulating for hundreds of years. He commented that:
“…decentralization is not a new trend but a loop, because the earliest human transactions were without central authorities… blockchain is a useful innovation, but that doesn’t mean cryptocurrencies, which blockchain has given rise to, are necessarily useful.”
Fan’s views are not dissimilar in tenor to those of the Chinese government who, despite banning cryptocurrency trading, are nonetheless surging ahead with blockchain projects, seeing the two as not mutually dependent; blockchain having a range of functions beyond cryptocurrency itself.
Fan added that it was a disservice to the technology to promote it with such adulation and that it was in no way a revolution, perhaps forgetting the recent words of the Chinese president himself speaking earlier this year who indeed described it as a technological revolution. Xi Jinping had said:
“Since the 21st century began, global scientific and technological innovation has entered an unprecedented period of intensive activity. A new round of scientific and technological revolutions and industrial changes is reconstructing the global innovation map and reshaping the global economic structure.”
It appears that the head of the regulatory commission may need to be careful with his vocabulary, lest he comes head to head with a president who uses the same language that Fan suggests is unhelpful regarding blockchain’s future development in China.
Last month blockchain was heralded for its internet-crushing-value on a China Central Television (CCTV) broadcast by the state-backed TV channel tagging it as being “the machine that generates trust” while in the same program making further attacks on cryptocurrency.
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