The Chinese government has released a white paper focused on blockchain technology in order to actively guide the development of the technology and its application in the country.

CoinDesk reported that the release of the paper coincided with a blockchain forum hosted by the Chinese government aimed at fostering cooperation among industry stakeholders and members of the country's business community.

The paper noted that financial enterprises, IT enterprises, manufacturing enterprises and others are actively investing in the development and application of blockchain technology, and the momentum of development is rapid.

According to the whitepaper, there are seven types of participants in the blockchain space: open source community, industry alliances, key enterprises, start-up companies, investment institutions, Financial institutions, and regulators. The paper analyses various applications of the technology and also offers blockchain technology development roadmap recommendations.

In particular, it outlines the areas in which standards around blockchain can be formulated to help foster adoption among mainstream firms, especially in the finance industry. The Ministry of Industry and IT said in the white paper’s preface (roughly translated by CoinDesk):

“[We] hope that all sectors work together to actively grasp the blockchain development trends and regulations...to create a favorable environment for development [and] accelerate the promotion of China's blockchain technology and industrial development.”

The paper recommends government departments at all levels to introduce the blockchain technology and industry-related policies, and urges enterprises and research institutions to carry out technology research and development.

Last month, reports suggested that China is considering implementing blockchain technology for its social security system. Various blockchain-related initiatives are also sprouting in the country which includes Financial Blockchain Shenzhen Consortium formed by over 30 Chinese financial firms and the creation of a distributed ledger based coalition agreement in Beijing, referred to as the ChinaLedger Union.