(Yicai Global) March 26 -- Ant Financial Services Group, affiliate of China's internet behemoth Alibaba Group Holding Ltd., has entered into a partnership with premium Chinese liquor brand Kweichow Moutai Co. to develop a blockchain-based anti-counterfeiting system this year.

By adding a QR code to the bottle cap that combines online distributed blockchain ledgers with Kweichow Moutai's advanced offline anti-forgery technology, the project will deliver trustworthy traceability service for every bottle of Kweichow Moutai offered on the market, online financial news outlet Cnstock reported today, citing Zhang Hui, blockchain technology director at Ant Financial.

The popularity of Kweichow Moutai's flagship liquor product has led to several counterfeiters trying to profit from it. Police in the baijiu maker's home province, the southwestern Guizhou, destroyed almost 7,500 bottles of fake Moutai in January, state-owned news agency Xinhua reported.

Ant Financial is working on a proprietary underlying platform for financial and commercial applications of the blockchain technology, which allows the firm to acquire insights into the technology via practical applications jointly conducted with its partners, Zhang told the global blockchain forum in Hangzhou, capital of the eastern Zhejiang province.

Hangzhou will use blockchain to transform itself into a global fintech center, said Wang Yuejian, head of the local government's financial services office.

Ant Financial has the largest number of patented blockchain technologies in the world, but it is cautious about the bubbles on the cryptocurrency investment market, warned its chief executive Jing Xiandong during his speech at China Development Forum in Beijing last weekend.