All characters in the text are pseudonyms
At the beginning of 2020, the Shanghai blockchain circle had a strange sense of bleakness.
This feeling comes from Wang Jin's departure.
I met Wang Jin at an event held by Bihu. It was in May and June of 2018, when the blockchain circle was in full swing. The standing one, Wang Jin is the one standing, long legs, low cut, miniskirt, wearing high heels half a head taller than the code farmer next to him, it's hard not to pay attention.
Wang Jin is a well-known goddess in Shanghai's blockchain circles. Whether it is the media, project parties, or TokenFund meetings, you can see Wang Jin's shadow more or less. Some people say that if you know Wang Jin, you know it. Half of the Shanghai currency circle.
Two days ago, I chatted with Wang Jin and asked why I couldn't see her very much recently.
Wang Jin said that the Shanghai blockchain circle is too cool, she has already moved to Hangzhou, and by the way, let me go to Hangzhou and Suzhou more.
"Shanghai can't afford blockchain, and this city doesn't have this gene."
These are Wang Jin's original words.
Wang Jin was not the only one who left the city, in fact, Lao Zhao left faster than her.
Lao Zhao is also a god in the Shanghai blockchain circle. In 2017, he launched a public chain project. That project was listed on a big exchange and was once called a hundred times coin. Of course, the project gradually became cold. Lao Zhao led the team to change direction. In 2018, Lao Zhao's company changed from public chain to public chain outsourcing, and made some technologies for some newly launched so-called model coins.
Lao Zhao went to Guangzhou in 19 years, and took the whole company with him. Those who were willing to go went, and those who didn't want to go split up.
At the end of last year, I happened to go to Guangzhou on business, and had a face-to-face drink with Lao Zhao. Lao Zhao complained about the weather in Guangzhou, the capital environment in Guangzhou, and Cantonese cuisine, but there was no Talk about moving the company.
"Shanghai's policies and perceptions can't keep up with the development of the blockchain industry." Old Zhao, who was drunk, patted me on the shoulder, "Don't stay in Shanghai, it's not that Shanghai is bad, it's that Shanghai is not suitable for districts blockchain."
01
The blockchain circle pays attention to grouping.
Zhongshan Park is one of the most important places in the blockchain landscape in Shanghai. At its peak, a large number of blockchain companies such as Bihu, Yuhu, VeChain, and Ear Finance gathered here.
Changning Raffles City is an office building that almost everyone in the blockchain industry in Shanghai is familiar with. Bihu, as the traffic flow of Shanghai’s local currency circle, is located on the 23rd floor of this office building.
Bihu’s office has a venue that can seat up to 100 people. It is used to host some blockchain activities. When it is the most popular, there is an event every day, and the venue is full of people.
But now, when I go to Bihu again, I haven’t seen many events in a month.
Bihu’s business complained to me, saying that there is no one in the Shanghai blockchain circle, and naturally there will be no activities.
In the early stage, from 2016 to 2017, the blockchain formed three camps, and the mining circle was basically in Shenzhen, because Huaqiangbei provided a steady stream of mining machines, and most of the chain circles were in Shanghai, where the blockchain first formed a circle The place, the currency circle is in Beijing, OKEx and Huobi, Xu Mingxing and Zhao Changpeng, those grievances and hatreds can circle the earth three times.
However, in the past two years, the development of domestic blockchain has undergone great changes. The currency circle has moved from Beijing to Hainan, but Beijing is still an important city of blockchain, and Garage Coffee still has countless blockchain people. Shenzhen Huaqiang There are always rumors of bleak business in the north, but the number of miners has only increased but not decreased.
The only thing that has changed is Shanghai. The blockchain people in Shanghai began to go to Hangzhou, or to Suzhou, or rushed to Guangzhou and Shenzhen. Even second-tier cities, such as Fuzhou and Qingdao, can come to the blockchain circle in Shanghai. Get a share of the grabbing action.
Such as Qingdao. In the blockchain industry, the story of Qingdao's "100 million yuan robbing academicians" once sparked heated discussions.
Another example is Hainan, where the government directly rewards blockchain leaders with a bonus of 1 million yuan, and provides research funds of 3 to 5 million yuan for excellent blockchain research teams.
Compared with Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Beijing, and Hangzhou, Shanghai's policies began to slow down. When governments around the world have issued policy guidance and notification documents related to blockchain, Shanghai has always been slow.
Even in terms of capital scale, which should be the most powerful and Shanghai is the most superior to other cities, Shanghai has not shown any courage to be stronger than other cities.
According to the statistics of CCID Blockchain Research Institute, there are currently about 148 domestic investment institutions involved in the blockchain field, of which Beijing accounts for about 49%, Shenzhen accounts for 17%, and Shanghai accounts for only 11%, only slightly higher than Hangzhou. 9%.
Talents, policies, and funds are all important, but the most frightening thing is that Shanghai is no longer willing to be a bridgehead for blockchain pilots. More and more blockchain pilots are beginning to be placed in Suzhou, Hangzhou and Shenzhen, forced by policy choices The destination of the relocated company is also Suzhou, Hangzhou, or Hainan, and Shanghai has begun to become a city abandoned by the blockchain.
This scene is very similar to the ten-year struggle of the Internet.
In the past, Shanghai was the first echelon of the Internet: first there was Yitang, the most high-profile and most expensive company in China, and then eBay, the pioneer of e-commerce. Under the banyan tree is the undisputed number one player in the content output of the older generation. Ninetowns and Shanda are the top players in the game industry.
And later, everyone knew that Yitang went bankrupt, Banyan Shuxia shut down, Dianping was merged by Meituan, Ele.me sold itself to Ali, Baidu, Ali, Tencent, Netease, Didi, JD.com, Toutiao, these Internet leaders All enterprises are either in Beijing, Shenzhen or Hangzhou.
It seems that only Ctrip is left among the serious Internet giants in Shanghai, and even Bilibili is the only second-tier Internet platform left.
It is rumored that a few years ago, Shanghai leaders asked various departments to reflect on why Ali did not come to Shanghai. Now that a few years have passed, nothing has been reflected on it, but more and more Shanghai Internet people have gone to work in Hangzhou. It was unimaginable for Shanghainese to go to work in other cities in the past. As for "Hangzhou is the back garden of Shanghainese", this kind of saying has no market anymore.
In the Internet age, Shanghai has completely fallen behind, so in the blockchain era, will Shanghai fall behind again?
02
Shanghai used to be one of the birthplaces of blockchain in China.
On June 9, 2011, Bitcoin China (BTCC) was established in Xuhui District, Shanghai. This is China's first blockchain trading platform, and once became the largest bitcoin trading platform in China, accounting for 80% of domestic digital currency trading volume at its peak.
In 2015, Wanxiang Blockchain Lab hosted the first Global Blockchain Summit in Shanghai, which greatly promoted the spread of the concept of "blockchain" in China.
At the end of the same year, Fenbushi Capital initiated by Wanxiang Holdings with an investment of 50 million U.S. dollars was established. This is China's first venture capital fund that focuses on investing in blockchain technology-related companies.
However, in the past two years, Shanghai's blockchain first-mover advantage has long since disappeared.
In terms of the scale of blockchain enterprises, Shanghai has been opened up by Beijing, and cities such as Guangzhou and Hangzhou have also begun to make efforts.
According to the data of Chain Tower Think Tank, 2016 and 2017 are the outbreak years of blockchain projects in Shanghai. 60% of the blockchain projects were established in these two years. Blockchain companies account for less than 8% of the total number of blockchain projects in Shanghai.
According to the 2018 China Blockchain Technology Innovation Summit, by the end of 2018, the number of blockchain enterprises in China ranked Beijing (175 enterprises, 167 financing incidents, 25 leading enterprises), Shanghai (95 enterprises, 73 financing incidents, 11 leading enterprises) ), Guangdong (71 companies, 64 financing events, 12 leading companies), Zhejiang (36 companies, 43 financing events, 11 leading companies)
In November 2019, data released by the Shanghai Blockchain Technology Association showed that there are currently about 300 blockchain R&D companies in Shanghai.
According to data from Tianyancha, in December 2019, the number of registered blockchain companies nationwide had reached 15,889, and in Shenzhen alone, there were more than 4,000 blockchain companies.
In terms of the development of the blockchain industrial park, Shanghai is not going well.
In 2016, Baoshan District, Shanghai set up the first blockchain industrial park——Shanghai Intelligence Industrial Park Sky Blockchain Incubation Base, and Shanghai was at the forefront again.
However, now in 2020, according to public data, there are currently 38 domestic blockchain industrial parks, 6 in Guangzhou, 4 in Hangzhou, and 4 in Shanghai. Shanghai is no longer the top one.
Even China's first blockchain industrial park, the Shanghai Intellectual Property Park Sky Blockchain Incubation Base, was once shut down due to suspicion of illegal "coin speculators".
Looking at the scale, in the scale of government-led blockchain industrial parks, the largest industrial park, Hunan Xingsha Industrial Park, covers an area of 41.48 square kilometers, and Suzhou’s "Chain Valley" also covers an area of 28.52 square kilometers. As for industrial parks, Hangzhou has 2, Guangzhou has 1, and Shanghai has missed the top ten.
In the ranking of the number of settled enterprises, only one of the top ten industrial parks is located in Shanghai. The top three industrial parks with occupancy rate are located in Hangzhou, Qingdao, and Guangzhou.
According to the Internet pulse survey, among the top ten industrial parks in the national blockchain industrial park investment fund scale, Hangzhou accounted for 2, Guangzhou accounted for 4, and there was still only one in Shanghai, and the fund size of Hangzhou Blockchain Industrial Park It is as high as 10 billion yuan, which is 10 times that of Shanghai's only industrial park on the list - the blockchain technology innovation and industrialization base.
In the "Comprehensive Competitiveness Evaluation of Blockchain Industrial Parks" selected by CCID Blockchain, a well-known blockchain research institution, among the top ten industrial parks, 4 are from Hangzhou, 3 are from Guangzhou, and there is only one in Shanghai.
In addition, Shanghai's blockchain benchmarking companies are facing a lack.
The current benchmark enterprises in the blockchain industry are mainly divided into four categories. The first category is miners, such as Bitmain, Jianan Zhizhi, Yibang International, etc., and the second category is exchanges, such as OKEx Group (OKEx) ), Huobi Group, etc., the third category is blockchain information and technology service companies, such as Qulian Technology, Yunxiang Blockchain, etc., and the fourth category is traditional "coin circle" companies, such as small ants.
In October 2019, the "2019 Hurun Global Unicorn List" was released, and there were 11 blockchain unicorn companies (that is, companies with a valuation of more than US$1 billion) on the list, of which there are 3 in the mainland, respectively. It is Bitmain in Beijing, Jianan Zhizhi and Ebang International in Hangzhou, all of which are undoubtedly miners.
In addition, in fact, there are many companies in the blockchain that have also reached the scale of quasi-unicorn enterprises, such as OKEx Group (OKEx), Huobi Group, which moved from Beijing to Hainan, and Qulian Technology and Pakistan Bit, living in Hangzhou.
In December 2019, the China Business Intelligence Research Institute released the top 100 blockchain companies in China. Among them, Beijing has the most companies, accounting for 40%, followed by Shenzhen and Hangzhou, with 14 and 11 companies respectively, and only 8 companies in Shanghai. Overwhelmed five Chengdu.
What is even more shocking is that among the top 30 blockchain companies, only one is located in Shanghai, which is the 23rd-ranked Shanghai Insurance Exchange. Except for the Insurance Exchange, all Shanghai companies have been wiped out.
In the past cognition, blockchain companies in Shanghai focused more on the design of the bottom layer of the blockchain, focusing on blockchain technology, but now, the well-known blockchain technology company, Qulian Technology , 33 Complex Beauty, Yunxiang blockchain, etc., none of them are in Shanghai.
In Shanghai, it seems that only VeChain, Ant, and Hashi Technology, which has been popular for a while because of its cooperation with Hongbo shares in lottery + blockchain, can hold up the final stage.
03
The brain drain, the loss of capital, the decline in the number of enterprises operating, and the lack of benchmark enterprises all reflect the lag of policies.
Let’s talk about the blockchain policy first. The current blockchain policy is mainly divided into three levels.
The lowest level is to stay in the government work report of "increasing the attention of the blockchain industry" and so on. There are no actual preferential policies, but it is just a stage of setting the tone and waiting to see.
At the middle level, there are actual blockchain support policies, but the support is still shallow. Such policies mainly stay in office housing subsidies, rental subsidies for high-end talents, financing support, and so on.
The highest level is what real blockchain companies and blockchain talents are interested in, such as direct cash subsidies for high-quality projects, settlement of blockchain talents, direct investment in blockchain companies by setting up industrial funds by the government, and so on.
Let's take a look at the five cities that are in the first camp of the blockchain: Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, and Hangzhou. Except for Beijing, which is not discussed here due to political factors, among the other four cities, Shanghai's blockchain support policy is also the same. Recognized support is relatively low.
First of all, Shanghai's blockchain support policy was introduced late.
In September 2017, Hangzhou issued the "Policy Opinions on Building the Xixi Valley Blockchain Industrial Park", providing 500,000/year rent subsidies for blockchain enterprises and 1 million conversion rewards for scientific and technological achievements. Blockchain talents can Receive 100% living allowance.
In September 2017, Shenzhen City encouraged financial innovation, "focusing on rewarding excellent projects in the fields of blockchain, digital currency, and financial big data applications, and the annual reward amount is controlled within 6 million yuan."
In December 2017, the Huangpu District of Guangzhou issued "10 Block Chains", adding 200 million yuan of financial investment to the blockchain every year for subsidies and technical rewards for blockchain companies.
That is to say, at the end of 2017, the blockchain policies of Guangzhou, Shenzhen, and Hangzhou have covered the middle level of preferential policies, and the policies of rent subsidies and talent subsidies have been implemented.
In Shanghai, it was not until September 2018 that the blockchain preferential policies were launched in Yangpu District, and stayed on rent subsidies and patent subsidies. At this time, let alone Hangzhou and Shenzhen, even Guiyang, Chongqing, The blockchain preferential policies in Chengdu, Suzhou, and Changsha have all been implemented for more than half a year.
Secondly, in terms of depth, Shanghai's blockchain policy is also a little bit of a stop.
In March 2018, Shenzhen started direct support for blockchain projects. The amount of funding for a single project does not exceed 2 million yuan, and the amount of funding does not exceed 30% of the total investment of the project.
In April 2018, Hangzhou issued a support policy for blockchain industrial parks, with a subsidy of 3 million yuan for talent purchases. Blockchain companies that pass the review can apply for up to 5 million yuan in entrepreneurial loans, and blockchain companies can obtain up to 1.5 million yuan in angel dreams Supported by funds, those entering the stage of industrialization can enjoy up to 20 million yuan of non-profitable equity investment guidance fund support, and the Xiong'an Fund with a scale of tens of billions is even more eye-catching.
Guangzhou is also not far behind. In March 2019, Guangzhou encouraged the establishment of a blockchain industry fund with a scale of 1 billion yuan. In terms of subsidies, it is clear that two companies or institutions that carry out blockchain public chain and alliance chain construction projects will be selected every year, and subsidies will be given according to 50% of their actual investment in research and development funds. Among them, the maximum subsidy for blockchain public chain projects is 10 million The maximum subsidy for blockchain alliance chain projects is 3 million yuan. The rules are also known as "Blockchain Policy 2.0"
On October 24, 2019, after the country set the blockchain as a breakthrough point for independent innovation of core technologies, blockchain support policies have sprung up in various places, but there is no more in Shanghai. So far, Shanghai has seen about The preferential policies for blockchain are still in Yangpu in 2018.
04
Policy is not the only measure of how seriously a city takes blockchain.
To put it bluntly, there is no blockchain policy in Beijing, but blockchain companies recognize Beijing and are willing to stay in Beijing. Beijing also has a clear attitude towards blockchain. Relentless.
In my opinion, the application of blockchain can actually better reflect the attitude of the city.
Let's look at Beijing first.
Beijing is at the forefront of blockchain + government affairs.
In April 2019, the Haidian District of Beijing has already used the blockchain in government affairs. In the past, the public needed to carry 4-6 kinds of certificates to go to a special power supply company to handle the electricity transfer business, and the processing time was 5 working days. After using blockchain technology in Haidian District, it takes less than 5 minutes to complete the electricity transfer business.
In November 2019, Beijing applied blockchain to real estate registration and transfer.
In December 2019, this set of blockchain system for electricity and real estate registration services was expanded again. Haidian applied blockchain technology to the region's "One Netcom Office" platform and launched "smart approval".
In January 2020, the third meeting of the 15th Beijing Municipal People's Congress confirmed that blockchain technology will be applied to more than 20 fields such as point settlement this year.
Second, look at Shenzhen.
Because there are many small and medium-sized enterprises and innovative enterprises in Shenzhen, more and more blockchain technology is applied to the direction of enterprise management.
In August 2018, Shenzhen Tax issued the country's first blockchain electronic invoice.
On October 30, 2019, the number of Shenzhen blockchain electronic invoices exceeded 10 million, and the amount of invoices exceeded 7 billion yuan.
In December 2019, Shenzhen launched a blockchain electronic certificate platform.
At the end of December 2019, the Shenzhen Stock Exchange launched the Blockchain 50 Index, covering 50 listed companies involved in the blockchain business.
Three look at Hangzhou.
More blockchain applications in Hangzhou are used in the fields of justice and people's livelihood, subways and courts, so that the people of Hangzhou begin to feel the convenience of blockchain.
In March 2019, Hangzhou Metro can issue electronic invoices based on blockchain technology.
In April 2019, West Lake Longjing Tea successfully connected to the judicial blockchain platform.
In May 2019, the Zhejiang blockchain notary lottery system officially launched operations.
In June 2019, Hangzhou launched the country's first blockchain electronic bill platform.
In October 2019, the total amount of data on the judicial blockchain of Hangzhou Internet Court exceeded 2.1 billion. More than 5,200 pieces of electronic evidence were retrieved through the platform, and the dismissal rate of related cases reached over 98.5%.
In fact, in addition to Beijing, Hangzhou, and Shenzhen, there are many places across the country that have truly used blockchain in various fields such as people's livelihood, government affairs, and finance.
For example, Xiongan has launched a blockchain housing rental application platform.
For example, Loudi, Hunan, issued the country's first real estate blockchain electronic certificate, and built the country's first government affairs alliance chain.
Another example is Chongqing, where the country’s first blockchain government service platform was launched. The time to register a company has been shortened from more than ten days in the past to as little as 3 days at the fastest, and the work efficiency has increased by 5 times.
Qingdao, Hainan, Fuzhou, Changsha, each city regards the blockchain as an opportunity to overtake on a bend, and continues to exert efforts on the blockchain, but Shanghai, which was once the first city of blockchain in China, has no voice.
But these are not the scariest.
As far as I can see, the evidence that Shanghai is really lagging behind in the blockchain is that the digital currency issued by the central bank is about to be piloted, but the pilot city may not be in Shanghai.
The central bank's digital currency will be exactly the same as banknotes in terms of functions and attributes, but in a digital form. For our country, this is a milestone development.
A person close to the central bank’s digital currency pilot project team once revealed to Caijing that the central bank’s legal digital currency pilot project is expected to land in Shenzhen, Suzhou and other places. Regarding why Shenzhen and Suzhou were chosen as digital currency pilots, the above-mentioned source explained, “One very important reason is to support Shenzhen and Suzhou as pilot demonstration areas.”
The choice of Suzhou and Shenzhen does not seem to be without trace.
In March 2019, the Digital Currency Research Institute of the Central Bank and Suzhou City established the Yangtze River Delta Financial Technology Co., Ltd., which will undertake the construction and stable operation of legal digital currency infrastructure.
In June 2019, the Central Bank Digital Currency Research Institute registered and established Shenzhen Financial Technology Co., Ltd. in Shenzhen, the only wholly-owned blockchain company of the Central Bank Monetary Research Institute.
So here comes the question——
Why not Shanghai?
As a financial center and a test field for reform and opening up, Shanghai has the best financial infrastructure in the country, and has always done its part in pilot projects in the financial and economic fields. It should have been the most pilot city for digital currency, but unfortunately, it is not in Shanghai.
Maybe it's my overthinking, maybe I can't understand the high-level design of the top-level design. However, the view of observers is that perhaps in the heart of the central bank, Shanghai is no longer the most suitable city for the pilot.
At the end of December 2019, CCID Blockchain released the "Evaluation Report on the Development Level of China's Urban Blockchain in 2019". Beijing was the best, Shenzhen and Hangzhou ranked second and third, and Shanghai ranked fourth ahead of Guangzhou.
From the data point of view, it seems that Shanghai is still in the first echelon of blockchain. However, from the first city of blockchain to the fourth, the development level of Shanghai's blockchain industry has obviously not kept up with the pace of urban development, and even declined and regressed.
For the city of Shanghai, blockchain, a technology that is so closely linked to finance, if Shanghai is not the first, it is not considered a success, and if it is not the second, it is considered a failure.
From the birthplace of China's blockchain, to being far behind by Beijing, and then to Shenzhen and Hangzhou, Guangzhou is about to catch up. In addition, Qingdao, which is "looking for academicians for 100 million yuan", is sitting on the Euroco Group and the hot industry. Hainan, the currency group's Hainan, the digital currency pilot city Suzhou, and Changsha, which has the country's largest blockchain industrial park, are also eyeing up.
In the era of blockchain, is Shanghai about to fall behind?
05
"Friends of 36 Krypton" once gave a very straightforward description of Shanghai:
"From top to bottom in Shanghai, only people who are 'already a character' are taken seriously, and people who 'haven't proven themselves' are full of infinite vigilance."
Zhang Xuhao, the founder of Ele.me, once said:
"Shanghai people want to win and are afraid of losing. They like to guard their own private land. They have no fighting spirit, no gambling attitude, and no wolfish attitude. No Shanghai company can do as well in the Internet industry."
In our general cognition, Shanghai is more respectful of foreign enterprise culture and petty bourgeoisie culture. What this city admires is the transition from white-collar workers to working emperors, rather than the legend of building a business empire from scratch. Funds flow here, but only Surging among big companies, entrepreneurs regard this place as a barren desert, and pioneers regard it as the last battlefield.
The collapse of the Internet is actually a painful lesson. The blockchain is increasingly considered to be the biggest business revolution after the Internet. Shanghai has the unique conditions of a blockchain city, but in the past 1-2 years, the city's development in the blockchain industry has not Not as high as we expected.
This is a pity for Shanghai, and it is also a pity for us blockchain entrepreneurs who start businesses in Shanghai.
Whether Shanghai has fallen behind in the era of blockchain is actually too early to draw conclusions. After all, blockchain is still in its early stages. It will take many years of accumulation and technical polishing before the large-scale application of blockchain. Shanghai, the first echelon, might not have no chance.
Hangzhou has not yet firmly established itself as the number one city in the blockchain industry, and Shanghai has not yet settled for falling behind.
At the beginning of 2020, the blockchain industry in Shanghai was somewhat bleak. Wang Jin and Lao Zhao had already left. The blockchain people who used to take the high-speed train from Hangzhou to Shanghai to participate in the conference became the organizers of the conference. More people began to sit in from Shanghai. The high-speed rail goes to Hangzhou, and Xiaoyi, VeChain, and Hashi Technology are still preparing for the next cooperation. The blockchain people in Shanghai haven't finished their journey yet, and haven't given up yet.
Just like this city, the lights of thousands of houses have not been extinguished for a hundred years.
