China establishes national standards committee for blockchain

The Standardisation Administration of China has set up and will run a national standards committee for blockchain technology. In a statement, it said it aims to "promote high levels of openness" as well as enable high-tech innovation and promote the development of "leading, systematic and rigorous" standards. The move came after a recent TV show on China's state-run CCTV-1 channel dubbed cryptocurrencies "illegal Ponzi schemes".

China has launched a national standards committee for blockchain technology in a bid to drive “high-tech innovation” in the area. The committee has been set up and will be run by the Standardization Administration of China (SAC), which coordinates standardization work across the country.

Announced on Wednesday, the committee said its purpose is to “help high-tech innovation”, “promote high-levels of openness” and “lead high-quality development.”

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The body claims to have “accelerated the construction of standardization technology organizations” and "started a batch of technical committees such as blockchain and distributed accounting technology.”

In its announcement, the committee explained that it will “continue to organize and manage the technical committees” as well as “guide the relevant technical committees.”

What’s more, it said it would “establish and improve the standards system of relevant fields, and formulate forward-looking, high-quality standards that are leading, systematic and rigorous.”

The news comes as cryptocurrencies were recently branded “illegal Ponzi schemes” and “financial fraud” by a television program on Chinese state-run channel CCTV-1. As Decrypt reported, Chinese current affairs show Focus Report said 102 cryptocurrencies were scam “pyramid schemes” while calling over 755 tokens “air coins” and “money-grabbing schemes.”

Presenters went on to say cryptocurrencies are “extremely deceptive and “confuse the blockchain concept with financial knowledge and currency knowledge.”

To add to the confusion, a few weeks prior, Chinese President Xi Jinping said blockchain would be necessary for gaining economic advantage and called on the country to accelerate the development of the technology.