One of the biggest boosts for the blockchain and cryptocurrency space this year unexpectedly came from China. With the country changing its stance from banning Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies to launching its own digital coin, CBDC. Additionally, the country has doubled down its efforts in the adoption of blockchain technology, with even President Xi Jinping emphasizing its importance in the digital finance field to the supply chain management sector.
President Xi Jinping had stated,
“We must take blockchain as an important breakthrough for independent innovation of core technologies, clarify the main directions, increase investment, focus on a number of key technologies, and accelerate the development of blockchain and industrial innovation”
The 180-degree change in turn, sparked interest in the new emerging technology among Chinese, with the search for both Bitcoin and blockchain on both WeChat and Baidu seeing a significant increase. Dovey Wan, Founding Partner at Primitive Crypto, complied the data on Twitter, stating,
“Many ppl asked “How’s the ACTUAL reaction on the ground to the Xi Blockchain shill in China” Here I did a quick data crunching on Wechat and Baidu search index, found it pretty interesting”
Source: Dovey Wan Twitter
Wan stated that WeChat, the multi-purpose social media channel that served as the first information provider to white-collar workers, saw a “significant spike” for Blockchain on 25th, the day President Xi Jinping’s talk was broadcasted. Whereas, Bitcoin saw rise the following day, with Wan suspecting it be a “lagging indicator to the price.” Baidu, an adobe of “newbies” according to Wan, recorded a massive rise of over 1300 percent for Blockchain on 25th, with Bitcoin query “jumped back up on 26th” after seeing a slight decrease on 25 October.
She said,
“The Blockchain shill from Xi definitely helps Bitcoin awareness as well, the two concepts are interrelated, hard to isolate one from each other. But we can also see that the news didn’t pump Bitcoin instantly (both materially and mentally) on 25th, it’s more as a aftermath […] This Xi Shill is definitely bullish for the whole industry […]”
