China’s Ether. What is Conflux and why Chinese authorities supporting it

Our experts tell us how the infrastructure of Conflux project is set up. How developers manage to achieve partnerships with large technology companies, and what led to the growth of the CFX token

In April, major cryptocurrency exchange Binance and decentralized platform Uniswap announced support for a new blockchain, Conflux. Behind its development is a team with the open support of the Chinese government. And the project’s infrastructure is also being implemented in major technology companies. And the market capitalization of the Conflux native token is approaching the $1 billion mark.

Investments and Partnerships Investments and Partnerships Conflux Network

Conflux Network is registered in Singapore, but the investors and all of its key employees are from the Chinese tech elite or have roots in mainland China. Founded in 2018, the company has raised $40 million from investment funds including Sequoia China and Baidu Ventures. In late March, the DWF Labs fund made a $10 million purchase of CFX tokens directly from the company, which was also a strategic investment in the project.

Fang Long, an associate professor of computer science at the University of Toronto, is behind the development of Conflux. And Andrew Chi-Chih Yao, who is the only Chinese Turing Prize winner to hold the position of chief scientist for the project. At least 10 of the company’s development team graduated from Tsinghua University’s computer science program.

Conflux’s blockchain went live in 2020. And since then, more than 300 platforms, brands and companies have used it, according to the developers. In 2023, the company partnered with China Telecom, China’s second-largest telecom operator, to create the “first SIM card on blockchain. As well as the popular social network Xiaohongshu to introduce NFT technology. The social network has 200 million users and is considered the Chinese analogue of Instagram.

Conflux works on the Tree-graph consensus algorithm, a kind of hybrid between Proof-of-Work (PoW). At that, on which Bitcoin operates, and Proof-of-Stake (PoS), which Ethereum or Cardano use. According to the developers, the network can process up to 3 thousand transactions per second. At the same time maintaining a high level of security and reliability. The blockchain has two subnets – Core and eSpace. eSpace is used for decentralized finance (DeFi) applications. The Conflux blockchain already has a CNH stabelcoin tied to the CNY exchange rate. And another “stablecoin” pegged to the Hong Kong dollar is expected in the future.

Support for a Chinese state

The developers themselves call Conflux the only regulatory-compliant blockchain in China with an indigenous Chinese team. They emphasize that the project has never conducted any form of ICO banned in China. In 2021, the Shanghai government gave Conflux Network a grant of more than $5 million. The company later received approval from Hunan provincial officials. With whom it was able to reach an agreement to incorporate its infrastructure into the government’s document workflow. And an administrative data verification system.

In China, government approval often allows a company to gain access to lucrative contracts in the public sector. Building relationships in the country plays an important role in doing business. And such an official endorsement is a notable event whose implications for Conflux go beyond mere PR.

China dominates the global blockchain market with an 84 percent share, compared to the United Kingdom (11 percent) and the United States (14 percent). Conflux wrote this when announcing the partnership with Uniswap. This, they said, is evidence of a “thriving ecosystem that makes China a critical player in Web3 project development.” Regulatory barriers in the U.S. and EU are expected to boost the growth of the crypto industry in Asia. More than 80 companies plan to open offices in Hong Kong. Where the government’s loyal attitude toward the blockchain industry “creates a vital link to mainland China,” the publication said.

Our experts note when the developers announced their partnership with Uniswap. Then they stressed that projects operating in currencies other than the U.S. dollar will benefit from it in a noticeable way.