China submitted a total of 550 patent applications on blockchain technology between 2008 and 2017, surpassing the United States and South Korea to become the world's largest applicant in the field.

According to the Russia-based firm Online Patent, US companies applied for 284 patents during the same period with South Korea on 192 - both significantly less than China, Sina reported.

The report revealed that 36 percent of all applications dealt with payment procedures and agreements, 24 percent concerned secret communication equipment and 17 percent involved information protection.

In terms of specific companies, Chinese blockchain technology start-up Bubi (Beijing) applied for 26 patents, the most by one company globally followed by South Korean Bitcoin service provider Coinplug (21), IBM (17) and Bank of America (17).

Blockchain technology was first implemented on digital currency Bitcoin to solve the double-spending problem without the need for a trusted intermediary. It has now extended its application into global fintech and is included in a list of top ten black technologies expected to have a profound influence on e-commerce in the future, along with Artificial Intelligence (AI) and big data.