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A new report shows that Chinese blockchain startups received around $3.5 billion in 2019, which is half as much as in 2018. As we can see from the blockchain news recently, a report from Rhino Data (investment platform) clearly illustrates the investments and financing in the blockchain industry in China.

Made in collaboration with Xinhua Finance, the report showcases that Chinese startups have had a great year. As we can see and summarize from the details in it:

1. Even 245 investment and financing deals went underway in China with around $3.5 billion being invested overall. Both of these numbers are roughly 50% lower than 2018 but significantly higher than 2017.
2. The early stage investments (pre-seed, seed and series-A) dwindled as the year went by and amounted to around 43% of the total investments. In the second half of 2019, Chinese blockchain startups got strategic investments and acquisition.
3. The popular investment areas included blockchain news/market intel, exchanges and DeFi.
4. Traditional VCs took a back seat in 2019 and most of the investments came from newly formed crypto funds.
5. Canaan IPO’d and became one of the first Chinese blockchain startups to see a public market exit.
6. Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen and Hangzhou tended to attract more blockchain startups but second-tier cities were also catching up.

Among the top 10 companies which got the most funding, we can see traditional industries including exchanges such as Bitfinex, mining firms such as Canaan and blockchain-based financing platforms. Also, there are some old-school companies which made appearances, too.

The cryptocurrency news show that apart from exchanges and mining, most of these Chinese blockchain startups are still trying to find an actual value proposition. For instance, Changyou which received $50 million in Series A funding, is the first “cross-industry, reliable, points-oriented, digital-assets-financing and settlement platform.”

The sudden approval of Chinese regulators is having a huge impact on China’s blockchain funding scene. Before the endorsement of Xi, a lot of Chinese entrepreneurs preferred to launch their startups abroad. However, all of this changed and Chinese blockchain startups are starting to see their domestic country as a prosperous one for full adoption of the technology.

Now that xi has sanctified blockchain technology, we are seeing companies such as Huobi setting up shops in mainland China – and giants such as Tencent and Alibaba making moves in the crypto and blockchain space.