$1 Billion Blockchain Fund Launches with Chinese Government Backing

A new Chinese blockchain fund has $1.6 billion available to invest in innovative startups – 30 percent of which is backed by a city government.

Dubbed Xiong'An Global Blockchain Innovation Fund, the new initiative was announced Monday at the opening ceremony of a new Blockchain Industrial Park in Hangzhou – a Chinese city noted for its support for innovation and which plays host to major companies such as Alibaba.

According to a report from Sohu, while the fund has been launched by Hangzhou-based venture capital firm Tunlan Investment, it will see over $400 million coming from the Hangzhou city government as a guided fund that will be used to invest in promising blockchain projects. The industrial park will also act as an incubation center for the startups.

The new fund will have Xu Xiaoping – founder of Zhenfund, a venture capital firm that has invested in blockchain projects such as Stream and Lino – as its advisor. Li Xiaolai, a notable blockchain investor and bitcoin tycoon in China, has been appointed a manager of the fund.

The new fund marks the latest effort from Chinese government entities in taking the lead on blockchain development initiatives in the country.

It notably also arrives just weeks after a government-led investment association in China scrapped a plan to establish a blockchain funding center due to internal structural conflicts.

Meanwhile, a government-led research body that is also based in Hangzhou recently launched a blockchain platform for identity and supply-chain tracking, according to a CoinDesk report in March.

Hangzhou image via Shutterstock