Hyperledger announced that Baidu has joined the project. All Chinese giant tech companies have entered the Blockchain playground now.
Hyperledger announced that Baidu has joined the project as a Premier Member. The Executive Director of Hyperledger, Brian Behlendorf, on behalf of the project, warmly welcomed Baidu:
“It’s exciting to see a company like Baidu, which serves the world’s largest Internet user population, join Hyperledger. Their deep understanding in connecting users to information and services will be a tremendous experience for us to leverage, as we look to expand our reach further in Asia and drive more global production deployments of Hyperledger technology.”
Hyperledger, according to its website, is an open source collaborative effort created to advance cross-industry Blockchain technologies.
Created in 2015 by the Linux Foundation, Hyperledger has attracted many influential companies like J.P. Morgan, Airbus, Intel, Cisco, and Wells Fargo. The project is a global Blockchain alliance with huge influence.
Vice President of Baidu, Zhang Xuyang, has reacted to the announcement saying:
“We believe Blockchain technology will allow us to better tailor our search technology to our users’ needs by enhancing the way we optimize local tastes and preferences. We’re thrilled to be part of Hyperledger, and look forward to collaborating with other members to drive open Blockchain solutions forward.”
After the Chinese government expelling Google, Baidu has become the dominant search engine in China. Now it is one of the largest Internet companies in China, as well as one of the major AI leaders all over the world. It is a member of “BAT”(Baidu, Alibaba, and Tencent), which is the Chinese version of “FLAG.”
Baidu is not the only giant Chinese tech company showing interest in Blockchain technology. In fact, it is left behind by its opponent.
In July 2016, Alibaba used Blockchain in its charity platform, making the information of donations more transparent. Then, by cooperating with different companies and purchasing start-ups, Alibaba applied Blockchain technology in multiple areas, including food safety and email security.
What’s more, Ant Financial, a subsidiary of Alibaba, has included Blockchain into its future developing areas along with AI, security, IoT and cloud computing.
It even tried to cooperate with the Chinese government on city construction, with Blockchain technology. Besides Alibaba, Tencent, the designer of WeChat and QQ, entered the Blockchain playground last year.
In May 2016, Tencent participated in the establishment of the Financial Blockchain Shenzhen Consortium, which is the largest Blockchain alliance in China. Tencent also included Blockchain into its future development plan.
