China's Blockchain Trade Finance Platform receives $4.7 Million in Funding

The People's Bank of China (PBC) has received $4.7 Million in funding for its blockchain trade finance platform based projects and research, reports Global Times.

The funding will drive the growth of China's most supported blockchain project at the national level, the blockchain trade finance platform.

In September 2018, China's central bank launched its blockchain trade finance platform in Shenzhen, south China's Guangdong Province.

Major Opinion

The Global Times report noted a PBC official's statement from a local publication, Xinhua, stating,
"The platform has helped greatly improve the efficiency of SME loan approvals - the time required to process trade financing has been shortened from over 10 days to about 20 minutes"

The Blockchain Trade Finance Platform

The Digital Currency Research Lab of the PBC, major commercial banks in China, the Chinese Academy of Sciences and top domestic universities like Tsinghua University are coordinating on this trade finance project.

According to the report, the blockchain trade finance platform witnessed steep adoption since its launch. China's blockchain trade finance platform has linked a total of 44 banks and 1,898 companies until mid-January 2020. The platform has processed more than 90 billion yuan in transactions, notes the report.

The blockchain trade finance platform has brought down corporate financing costs to less than 6 per cent.