Ethereum-focused venture studio ConsenSys has entered into a memorandum of understanding with the Xiong’an government, administrators of a state-level new district in China’s Hebei province set to be a development hub for the nation’s Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei capitol region triangle. The MoU taps Consensys to advise Xiong’an New Area officials on how they can leverage Ethereum blockchain use cases.
The fledgling state-level new district of Xiong’an was formally announced in April 2017 with “Comrade Xi Jinping at the core to push forward” the futuristic green city, a Communist Party of China planning documentread at the time.
Estimated to come to total fruition circa 2035, the super city, which President Jinping dubbed a personal project in conversation with former U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson in 2014, is envisioned as project at the bleeding edge for urban planning, eco-friendly living, and fintech innovation.
ConsenSys founder Joseph Lubin in the statement, who also co-founded ethereum, the world’s dominant blockchain network and second most-valuable cryptocurrency after bitcoin, said,
“As one of our first major projects in the People’s Republic of China, we are excited to help define the many ‘use cases’ that could benefit from the trust infrastructure enabled by ethereum technology,”
Previously the local government has announced partnerships with Chinese tech companies – including Tencent, Ant Financial and Qihoo 360 – to adopt blockchain in areas from finance to house renting to cybersecurity.
While inaugurating the nineteenth annual conference at the Chinese Academy of Sciences in May, President Xi listed distributed ledger technology as one of the technological revolutions that is creating a new history. The Chinese Premier is also in the process of working on an urban development project that could result in migration of 6.70 million people, but bring in 2.4 trillion yuan ($348 billion) into the Chinese economy over the next decade.
Building a smart city requires lot of planning and technological expertise and the selection of ConsenSys for the project is a well-thought-out plan.