According to sources, the People’s Bank of China is giving its first round of central bank digital currency (CBDC) to online retail giant Alibaba, Internet giant Tencent, five banking organizations and one unknown entity. The first beneficiaries Forbes reported the news on Aug. 27. The sources named are Paul Schulte, who previously worked as head of the China Construction Bank, and an anonymous individual identified as part of China’s CBDC project. According to Schulte, the first beneficiaries of China’s CBDC are Alibaba, Tencent, China Construction Bank, the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, the Bank of China, the Agricultural Bank …

Chinese online retail giant Alibaba has applied for a United States patent entitled “Domain Name Management Scheme for Cross-Chain Interactions in Blockchain Systems.” Alibaba filed its latest application on Aug. 15 in a continuation of an application filed in November 2018. According to the filing, Alibaba intends to patent a system that uses what they call a “unified blockchain domain name” (UBCDN) in order to denote and share information. In the system, Alibaba proposes to use a computing system to generate a UBCDN message which contains a blockchain domain name and a chain identifier that is paired with that name. …

Tech giant IBM has tripled the number of blockchain patents secured in the United States since last year, currently boasting over 100 active patent families. That makes IBM’s growth in US patents the largest of last year, according to a report by crypto-related news site BeinCrypto on July 16. According to data gathered by Yuval Halevi, co-founder of crypto and blockchain PR company GuerillaBuzz, IBM’s number of active patent families dwarfs other notable corporations. This includes some primary tech companies, such as Intel, Microsoft, and Dell Technologies: “In just 1 year the number of IBM blockchain patents has grown by …

Fuzhou, China is offering rent subsidies to blockchain businesses in a bid to accelerate the industry’s growth, the state-run People’s Daily reported on June 11. The incentive is part of three measures designed to help the sector, and will enable companies to receive up to 600,000 yuan ($86,800) in relief on rent bills per year for three years. Traditional companies will also be encouraged to build blockchain applications, and will be eligible to receive a 20% subsidy on the cost of their development. Projects that win awards for scientific and technological progress, or deliver transformation in Fuzhou, could be rewarded …

Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba will integrate blockchain technology into its intellectual property system of global enterprises and brands, local news outlet Sohu reported on May 23. Ali Xizhi, the company’s director of intellectual property protection, reportedly said that Alibaba is in the process of upgrading the filing of intellectual property rights by utilizing blockchain. Alibaba is planning to fully implement the technology in September, after which it will be expanded to digital copyright protection, including visual content. The system will purportedly allow electronic deposits from international brands to directly link to the Internet Court through the blockchain-based Ali Intellectual Property …

Chinese e-commerce giant JD.com has applied for over 200 blockchain patents, according to a report by Securities Daily News on May 20. The report also notes that major e-commerce competitor Alibaba has applied for 262 blockchain patents, and Chinese internet titans Tencent and Baidu have applied for 80 and 50 such patents, respectively, as recorded by the Intellectual Property Center of China Information and Communication. According to interpretation of the data provided by Intellectual Property Center of China Information and Communication, JD.com was in first place for “global blockchain patent strength,” with Alibaba, Tencent, and Baidu coming it at second, …

Ant Financial, the financial affiliate of Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba, has participated in a $10 million Series A round for QEDIT, an Israeli blockchain privacy solutions firm that develops zero-knowledge proof (ZKP) technology. The news was reported by Israeli daily business newspaper Calcalist on May 7. The Series A was reportedly led by MizMaa Ventures, and its closing was announced alongside partnerships with Ant Financial, major software firm VMWare and RGAX, a subsidiary of Reinsurance Group of America. Both latter firms also participated in the financing round, alongside Meron Capital, venture capital firm Jovono, Collider Ventures and Target Global. The …

Tron and BitTorrent CEO Justin Sun has donated $1.5 million to the Hupan University established by Alibaba’s co-founder Jack Ma, according to a press release shared with Cointelegraph on April 8. The Hupan University was launched in 2015 by Ma in a bid to help entrepreneurs and business owners learn core business skills needed for further development and promotion in the Chinese market. Sun’s contribution will purportedly support the next class of 41 students from 14 industries, with about half representing the Internet sector and half the traditional sector. Commenting on the importance of the university to professional development, Sun …

China’s cyberspace administration has released the first list — 197 companies long — of registered blockchain service providers, according to their March 30 notice. Chinese initiatives by internet giants such as Baidu Blockchain Engine, Alibaba Cloud Blockchain-as-a-Service (BaaS), Tencent BaaS (TBaaS) and the BaaS platform owned by e-commerce giant JD.com appear on the list. Financial institutions such as the China Zheshang Bank and Ping An Insurance Company are also included. Some less-known companies such as blockchain-enabled supply chain management service VeChain and parcel delivery service ParcelX are present on the list as well. The article also notes that no institution …

Chinese e-commerce conglomerate Alibaba and Aerospace Information Co., a major software developer and provider, have signed a strategic cooperation agreement for cloud computing, blockchain and other technological services development. Chinese finance publication Securities Daily reported on the deal on March 21. The two parties have agreed to take advantage of their respective brand technologies “to actively integrate resources and carry out in-depth cooperation” in in the fields of cloud computing services, finance and taxation, government affairs and blockchain technology, among others. As the publication states, Aerospace Information will collaborate with Alibaba to work together in research and development in order …

Dubai-based crypto firm ABBC Foundation has agreed to stop using the name “Alibaba” for its cryptocurrency after legal action by Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group, Reuters reported on March 11. The decision from ABBC Foundation is reportedly part of a settlement of an almost year-long lawsuit brought by Alibaba against the crypto startup. ABBC Foundation, previously also known as Alibabacoin Foundation, reportedly said that it regretted confusion caused by its former use of the name “Alibabacoin” for its firm and cryptocurrency. Per the report, the company's coin will now be called ABBC coin. As Cointelegraph reported in April last year, …

Liu Song, vice president of Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group, has said in an interview that the company is considering blockchain tech implementation for cross-border supply chains. Song’s remarks were noted in an article published by China’s largest state-owned newspaper, People’s Daily, on Wednesday, March 6. Song underlined that in the future, Alibaba can implement blockchain in complex supply chains to create a closed-loop ecological system that could be linked with local governments. Alibaba also plans to develop new technologies such as Internet of Things (IoT) and blockchain in the fields of customs brokers, international logistics and trade finances, according …