The parties met with a number of start-ups operating in the blockchain space.

Figureheads from China's central bank and several of the country's research organizations reportedly visited San Francisco last week to discuss blockchain technology initiatives and related financial regulation in the US.

Yao Qian, director of the People's Bank of China's Digital Currency Research Institute, delegates from fintech research houses Shanghai New Financial Research Institute (SFI) and Peking University Digital Finance Research Center (IDF) met with a number of US start-ups as part of ongoing research led by the latter two firms, according to Sohu, a Chinese media site. 

The above parties reportedly met with Prosper, a lending company; Sofi, an initiative targeting student loans; Circle, a peer-to-peer payments provider underpinned by blockchain; crypto-currency exchange Coinbase; and Ripple, a payments firm that uses blockchain. 

Yao Qian reportedly said that “the issue of legal digital currency is of great significance” for China, and spoke about how traditional financial system stakeholders need to establish a strategy for blockchain technology. 

Blockchain first arose in 2009 as the technology underpinning bitcoin. Although it is most well-known for enabling transactions involving the cardinal crypto-currency and others, its uses have proved to be extremely wide-reaching. As a result, banks, start-ups, regulators and more are racing to establish how to best use the disruptive, distributed ledger technology. 

The recent meeting of Chinese officials and US start-ups could signal that the Communist Party-run country is looking to regulate crypto-currencies like its neighbour Japan, where citizens can now pay their taxes and book flights using bitcoin. 

In July, Wall Street's main watchdog said it would bring initial coin offerings (ICOs) - unregulated means of crowdfunding for new crypto-currency ventures - into its regulatory scope. 

The Securities and Exchange Commission's announcement delivered a sharp prod to the side of crypto-currency start-ups, and reminded them that they cannot ignore investor protection rules and in future may have to be more cautious about fundraising through coin sales in the US.