Jan. 16 (NBD) -- The blockchain technology, described as revolutionary as the "Internet in the 1990s", suddenly became a hit in the capital market, dominating front-page headlines in late 2017 and early 2018.

However, investments of blockchain technologies in China have long remained tepid since 2015, despite giant transnational players' entering this sector.

Investors get to know more and raise input

Xu Xiaoping, founder of a Beijing-based seed fund ZhenFund, announced his support for the revolutionary technology of blockchain in an internal chat group earlier this year and later the screenshot of the conversation was revealed to the public.

Xu believed that the technological revolution of blockchain has arrived and it should be embraced rather than being resisted. His words then became widely spread and helped to fuel the fire of blockchain.

However, it was a totally different scenario some two or three years earlier.

Zhou Zihan, a senior researcher at OKLink, a blockchain research institute, recalled that unlike the Internet, AI (Artificial Intelligence) or big data, blockchain seems an obscure concept, which stalled its development at the budding stage in 2015.

According to the consensus in the industry, Blockchain 1.0 starts from digital currency and supports related applications, software and hardware; Blockchain 2.0, based on digital assets, refers to the application of blockchain technology in other financial sectors; Blockchain 3.0 covers blockchain applications beyond the financial field, applications in every aspect involving human life, such as health, science, literacy, culture, and art.

But now, not only domestic internet giants but also overseas capital are deploying in this emerging sector.

Alibaba, JD.com, Xiaomi and Baidu have entered the worldwide blockchain rush, launching their own blockchain application products.

Besides, blockchain-related stocks surged on the U.S. stock exchanges. For instance, Xunlei Ltd.’s shares started to soar after the company's launch of OneCloud, a blockchain-based project, in October last year. From October 13, 2017 to January 9, 2018, the stock has climbed 446 percent accumulatively. 

Photo/Shetuwang 

Blockchain, a revolution abreast of the Internet in the 1990s?

In late 2016, the blockchain technology was for the first time enlisted into the China's National 13th Five-Year Plan for informatization by the State Council.

The policy helped create more opportunities for the development of blockchain, and ICO (Initial Coin Offering) then made more people familiar with the technology.

Zhou noted that ICO, a means of fundraising based on bitcoin or other cryptocurrency, directly boosted the blockchain market.

With capital pouring in, bubbles arise inevitably from profit-driven and getting-rich-overnight mentality. However, the undeniable fact is that more quality and reliable talents and enterprises have entered into this sector.

How long will the explosive growth of blockchain last? No one seems to have the answer.

Some blockchain researchers compared it to the advent of the Internet in the 1990s, saying that blockchain is standing at the exact stage of barbaric growth just like the latter.

Those researchers also admitted that blockchain hasn't yet developed a mature business model and made itself known to the general public. Potentials remain.

Gong Ming, founder of a blockchain startup ChainB.com, said to NBD that the blockchain will change the way we do business in finance and beyond, which is why financial institutions, governments and regulatory authorities attach importance to the technology.

Gong believed that blockchain in the future will grow up to a huge scale which can compete with the Internet.

Despite the high expectations towards blockchain in the industry, the blockchain technology is still situated in the Peak of inflated Expectations Phase and has 5 to 10 years to go before reaching mainstream adoption, according to the Hype Cycle for Emerging Technologies 2017 released by Gartner.

Email: gaohan@nbd.com.cn