Alipay and parent company Ant Financial have disclosed a collaboration with local Chinese authorities to make use of blockchain for guaranteeing the authenticity of rice.

 

Alipay boasts of 400 million users as of August 2017. The company is owned by Alibaba affiliate Ant Financial.

The partnership with the municipal government in Wuchang in Heilongjiang Province seeks to stop counterfeit versions of the well-known Wuchang rice from making it to the market.

 

“This is the first time that Wuchang Rice has changed the long-distance distribution method for the whole country, shortening the original delivery time of 3-7 days to less than 2 days,” the report said of the benefits of blockchain introduction:

“Information such as warehousing, delivery, and trucking of warehousing and distribution links is also visible to consumers in real time.”

 

The development comes a week after China intensified its cryptocurrency ban with more blocks on exchanges and exchange of data about the sector.

In contrast, blockchain continues to capture the fancy of Beijing, with numerous partnerships and integrations ongoing within both the state and private sectors.

Alipay has also taken a stringent stance on users conducting cryptocurrency trading with its accounts, while in June, Ant Financial began a blockchain remittance project with the Philippines.