Cryptocurrency critic China jumps into blockchain race with U.S.

BEIJING – China has launched an ambitious effort to challenge the U.S. dominance in blockchain technology, which it could use for everything from issuing digital money to streamlining a raft of government services to tracking Communist Party loyalty.

The technology received a crucial endorsement from President Xi Jinping last week, a signal that the government sees blockchain as an integral part of the country’s plan to become a high-tech superpower.

Beijing is the latest in a handful of countries to have adopted a law strictly governing the encryption of data — particularly blockchain technology, which allows the storage and direct exchange of data without going through an intermediary.

Reputedly unfalsifiable, blockchain is a database shared across a network of computers. Once a record has been added to the chain it is almost impossible to change. It is perhaps best known for underpinning the operation of cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin — which Beijing may seek to…