Beijing to invest in blockchain, integrate into infrastructure

The Beijing city administration has announced a plan for local blockchain development and implementation over the next two years.

According to an April 29 announcement, the plan was jointly developed by the Beijing Municipal Science and Technology Commission, the Zhongguancun Administrative Committee, the Cyberspace Administration Office, the Bureau of Government Services and Data, the Bureau of Economy and Information Technology and the Bureau of Commerce. The implementation is expected to start this year and continue until 2027.

The Beijing Blockchain Innovation and Application Development Action Plan recognizes blockchain as a “critical foundational technology for industrial digitalization and vital digital infrastructure.”

Notably, the objectives also include plans to “enhance the value extraction from digital assets through blockchain,” which may indicate crypto mining. The announcement also claims that the city has already invested heavily in this area of research:

“Beijing has significantly progressed in autonomous blockchain technology development and application scenarios.“

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Beijing bets on blockchain for economic growth

The plan involves developing blockchain software that targets breakthroughs in cryptography, confidential computing and distributed systems. The project also includes the development of blockchain infrastructure, including national blockchain hub nodes and platforms for trusted digital identity and distributed data directories.

Industries targeted for blockchain application include healthcare, education, large artificial intelligence models, financial services and transportation. The objective is to enhance efficiency and trust:

“The aim is to optimize business processes, ensure trustworthy data sharing, and innovate service models, establishing benchmark applications to drive broader blockchain adoption.“

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One blockchain, one network, one platform

The announcement cites the “one blockchain, one network, one platform” principle. By 2027, the project aims to implement dedicated blockchain chips, privacy protection features, crosschain interoperability and distributed networking.

The project hopes to achieve petabyte-scale trusted node storage, large-scale blockchain interoperability, and a hundred-million-user-scale interoperable trusted identity system. The announcement promises the development of at least 20 blockchain use cases.

The announcement follows Beijing’s release of a white paper to foster innovation and advance the Web3 industry in May 2023. The “Web3 Innovation and Development White Paper” recognized Web3 technology as an “inevitable trend for future Internet industry development.“

The commission behind the paper hoped to establish Beijing as an innovation hub for the digital economy and planned to allocate a minimum of 100 million yuan ($14 million) annually until this year.

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