China opens first blockchain-powered notary office in Beijing

China has opened its first blockchain-based notary offices in Beijing, Cointelegraph reported referring to a report from People.

The service was reportedly launched last Friday at the Beijing CITIC Notary Office. It will allow certificate holders to verify the contents of the document by scanning a code.

An official said the move marks “the beginning of a new stage in the development of the notarial certificate and the official opening of the blockchain notary service era.”

Wang Mingliang, the director of the Beijing CITIC Notary Office, believes that blockchain-based notarization has the value of notarization as well as the legal significance of blockchain certification. He added that blockchain technology and notarization have “common complementarities and can be used to well complement each other.”

Integrating blockchain technology with notarization process is expected to help prevent forging of documents, and thwart fraudsters to benefit from informational asymmetries.

Recently, the Chinese city Guangzhou issued a blockchain and artificial intelligence (AI)-powered business license at the administrative center of Huangpu District.