Fosun Group, China’s largest private investment conglomerate, has invested “tens of millions of yuan,” or multi-millions of U.S. dollars, into a Shanghai-based startup responsible for a local blockchain technology platform, a representative has confirmed.

This company, known as Onchain, was founded in Shanghai in 2014. In addition to supporting operations between different blockchains, Onchain is also capable of interacting with the more-familiar, traditional internet.

Shanghai Distributed Technologies Ltd. Co., the company behind Onchain, has about 40 employees.

In an interview with Reuters, Da Hongfei, Onchain’s chief executive officer, elaborated that Fosun Group seeks to capitalize on blockchain technology to increase transparency. For this reason, it plans to use Onchain’s cryptocurrency and other services, including AntShare and Identity Chain, throughout all its various business platforms, including those in the financial services industry.

In China, interest in blockchain technology transcends the private sector. Shanghai Distributed Technologies also works in tandem with the Guiyang City Government to develop a blockchain system to be used for public purposes, and in June, the Chinese Government, itself, became the world’s first state governing body to develop its own cryptocurrency prototype.

Blockchain technology is thought to be of particular interest to commercial and governmental institutions in China, where a large percentage of the population has no access to traditional banks. Additionally, some hope that the ability of such technology to reduce fraud and increase transparency can assist the Chinese government in its efforts to reduce corruption.

For these reasons, many specialists anticipate that China will lead Asia, and possibly the world, in the development of blockchain technologies in the coming years.

In 2016, the global blockchain industry was valued at $228 million. By 2023, experts anticipate that this number will grow to $5.4 billion.

Read more at Reuters, China Money Network, Forbes, and Futurism.