A $50m venture fund backed by Chinese conglomerate Wanxiang has officially launched a grant program focused on funding open-source blockchain projects.

First revealed in September, the launch of Wanxiang Blockchain Labs (WBL) coincided with a larger push by Wanxiang to make its interest in distributed financial protocols such as the bitcoin and Ethereum blockchains known.

In statements, WBL co-founder Bo Shen said that the organization intends for the grant program to award projects that focus on utility rather than financial "speculation".

Shen said:

Once applications are submitted, WBL said it aims to vet all projects based on their "viability, significance, innovativeness and utility", informing applicants of their final decision within two weeks of receiving submissions.

WBL plans to award the $50,000 grant every two months, selecting a total of six open-source blockchain projects annually to award a total of $300,000.

Applications for the first installment of the program must be submitted before 30th November, with all projects needing to be registered under open-source software licenses such as General Public License (GPL) or the MIT License.

Stacking coins image via Shutterstock