China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) said at a press conference on Tuesday that the country accounts for more than 84 percent of global blockchain patent applications, despite the country's ban on cryptocurrencies.
However, MIIT did not indicate the source of data on global blockchain patent applications.
Wang Jianwei, deputy director of the Information Technology Development Department of MIIT, added that blockchain is now being rapidly integrated into economic and state affairs.
China has banned cryptocurrencies, but their technological source, blockchain, is used by companies and the government. The Chinese Academy of Information and Communication Technology, an academic supported by MIIT, said in July that as of March this year there are more than 1,300 blockchain companies in China.
According to a report by the PatSnap patent and analytical center published in February, in 2021, China ranked first in the world in the number of blockchain patent applications, filing about 33,000 applications, which is 63.2% of global applications, followed by the United States and South Korea.
However, PatSnap pointed out that the quality of blockchain patents in China may be insufficient, as only 10.5% of patents are cited more than 11 times compared to 21.5% in the US. In addition, only 0.1% of Chinese blockchain patents are cited more than 100 times compared to 1.3% in the US.
The cost of filing a patent application in China is close to zero, but the benefits of owning a patent or even just filing a patent application are relatively large, as this can increase the credibility of the company.
