Thanks to President Xi Jinping’s recent game-changing comments about blockchain, the official newspaper of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), PLA Daily, appears to be poised to see military personnel paid and encouraged in cryptocurrencies as opposed to the Yuan.
According to a pro-crypto write-up published by the PLA’s paper, the technology should not be exclusive to civilians. There are a ton of use cases that the technology can offer the military sector. The article opines:
“Just as the civilian logistics industry has adopted blockchain to trace and track food supply chains from farms to shops, the PLA could use the technology of immutable records in its military logistics and supply management.”
Driving the point home, the PLA’s outlet points to a few points in its case for blockchain technology. For starters, it suggests, distributed ledger technology could be used to track and ensure the authenticity of training results. This would be made possible using the technology to track shooting range and other parts of the training session.
Another critical use case is the transfer of classified info. If used by the military, the article suggests that it will greatly boost the security of classified info in the military. Although this would require a higher encryption level, blockchain technology still shows more potential than any other contemporary technology.
As an immutable chain, it will be extremely difficult to alter the data in there. This makes it a suitable option in any sector where transparency, monitoring and recording is required.
Pushing further, the PLA Daily emphatically calls for a reward system based on cryptocurrency. The article recommends “[t]o award or deduct tokens according to one’s daily performance and thus generate an objective assessment would effectively energise the human resource management.”
The article might indicate a radical change in the approach of the Chinese government towards cryptocurrency. It is very difficult to believe that the military’s official newspaper has published such an opinion piece without the approval of the regime. With this publication, perhaps the government attempts to test the waters first before it makes any significant pro-crypto moves or perhaps it seeks to push to a more crypto-friendly agenda at a very slow pace.
China to Accept Crypto?
With the Chinese President actively fighting for better adoption and exploration of the emerging technology bockchain, it is no wonder more and more people and institutions are beginning to be bullish on the crypto sector.
Backtrack just a few months ago, cryptocurrencies and blockchain as a whole were considered as an abominable low-key topic in China. Following the disruption in the sector during crypto hay days, the Chinese government had determined to totally ban crypto and other related services, including initial coin offerings.
Coming back from such a bearish position wasn’t done overnight but I believe they have come to point where crypto can be slowly and gradually accepted a legal currency in the country.
