China Wants Communist Party Members to Pledge Loyalty on Blockchain

China's Communist Party is taking its leader's support for blockchain to heart.

Following Xi Jinping's bombshell speech last week urging his countrymen to "Seize the opportunity" created by the technology, the CPC released a decentralized app for members to attest their loyalty on a blockchain.

According to a post from the CCP's propaganda office on Saturday, the dapp, in literal translation called "Original Intentions Onchain," allows members to pledge their allegiance to the party and store it on a blockchain, which can be shared and seen by others.

According to the post, the technology behind the dapp was developed by a Beijing-based company called Lingzhu Technology, which says it's a blockchain developer without much detail on its tech or the team behind it.

The company's registration data shows it has received investment from state-owned capital tied to China's Tsinghua University and claims it has developed a blockchain called OF. In fact, this company issued a little-known cryptocurrency dubbed OFCoin and got it listed on exchanges like OKEx and CoinMex early in 2018, months after China cracked down on initial coin offerings and fiat-to-crypto trading.

On Saturday, the People's Daily, an official mouthpiece, published a front-page article with Xi's comment on "Accelerating" blockchain development.

Though state-owned media focused on blockchain technology, the market took it as official endorsement for bitcoin.

There were other signs of increased blockchain and bitcoin interest in China.

The Shenzhen-based company said it has developed a proprietary high-throughput distributed network based on blockchain technology.

When the market opened in mainland China on Monday, the prices of more than 100 public companies that are somewhat tied blockchain in their business operations or product offerings, all grew by 10 percent on the day.