Share this article
ZhongAn Reveals Blockchain Product Details in Draft IPO Filing
China's first online-only insurer ZhongAn has filed for an initial public offering, revealing new details about its blockchain development.
By Wolfie Zhao
Updated Sep 11, 2021, 1:30 p.m. Published Jul 6, 2017, 10:00 a.m.
China's first online-only insurer ZhongAn filed for an initial public offering (IPO) on June 30, revealing new details about its blockchain development in the process.
According to the draft filing to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, ZhongAn Technology, a wholly owned subsidiary of ZhongAn Insurance, has developed a blockchain protocol called Ann-chain, which serves as its foundation for building applications. A separate platform, called Ann-router, is further described as a blockchain network component "intended to link isomorphic and heterogeneous blockchains."
STORY CONTINUES BELOW
Don't miss another story.Subscribe to the Crypto Daybook Americas Newsletter today. See all newsletters
Formed to focus on research and development of financial technology, ZhongAn Technology launched a series blockchain applications last year designed for distributed data storage. The latest, Ti-Packet, launched in May 2017 and described as a blockchain-based signing system, appears to have been adopted in a use case aimed at tracking chicken farming on a blockchain.
This technology development has also coincided with broader work with industry stakeholders.
In May this year, under an initiative led by China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, ZhongAn Technology and a dozen other active blockchain developers drafted a document called the "Blockchain Reference Architecture" – an attempt to provide a standard for blockchain protocol development in China. The final version of the agreement was announced by the China Electronics Technology Standardization Academy in an industry summit, during which the Ann-chain and four other blockchain protocols passed the first batch of testing under such standardization.
Also notable in the filing is the size of ZhongAn's research and development team, which consists of 862 technicians and engineers. As of the end of 2016, it had received over $30m in investment in 2016.
The number of staff that focus on blockchain-related projects was not disclosed.
Shanghai image via Shutterstock
Más para ti
Lo que debes saber:
- As of October 2025, GoPlus has generated $4.7M in total revenue across its product lines. The GoPlus App is the primary revenue driver, contributing $2.5M (approx. 53%), followed by the SafeToken Protocol at $1.7M.
- GoPlus Intelligence's Token Security API averaged 717 million monthly calls year-to-date in 2025 , with a peak of nearly 1 billion calls in February 2025. Total blockchain-level requests, including transaction simulations, averaged an additional 350 million per month.
- Since its January 2025 launch , the $GPS token has registered over $5B in total spot volume and $10B in derivatives volume in 2025. Monthly spot volume peaked in March 2025 at over $1.1B , while derivatives volume peaked the same month at over $4B.
Más para ti
Traders mull the bottom as bitcoin returns to week's lows below $86,000
One analyst isn't quite ready to call a bottom, but says bitcoin is surely in an oversold condition.
Lo que debes saber:
- Bitcoin's early rally Wednesday seems a faint memory as the price has returned to the week's lows.
- Precious metals continue to get bid, with silver rushing to yet another new record and gold closing in on an all-time high.
- One analyst cautioned against reading too much into the current bitcoin price action due to year-end positioning and tax considerations.
Top Stories
