China pilots nationwide blockchain development over real-world use cases

The Cyberspace Administration of China announced that it has begun an internal effort to accelerate blockchain development and innovation in 15 zones and 164 entities.

This initiative is aimed at large-scale implementation blockchain technology in China’s government and businesses.

Along with other government agencies the CAC directed regulatory authorities to promote “the intensive and balanced layout blockchain technology infrastructure in region, form large-scale cross-chain data exchange support capability and encourage the formation of multi-party collaborative Blockchain industry ecology.”

The notice also contained a list, predetermined from the recommendations of local and departmental officials, of cities and companies that will directly participate in the pilots.

Here’s a small excerpt from the CAC list of pilot projects for blockchain. Source: CAC

Manufacturing, energy, government data sharing, services, taxation and criminal trials are the key areas of blockchain development.

The circular emphasizes that regulatory agencies must coordinate the promotion and advancement of pilot projects and “give full play to blockchain’s role in promoting data sharing and optimizing business processes, reducing operational costs, improving collaboration efficiency, and building trust systems.”

Related: China seeks to seperate NFTs and crypto through a new blockchain infrastructure

Despite its strong opposition to crypto adoption, China’s government is still interested in similar ecosystems such as blockchain and nonfungible tokens.

The Blockchain-based Service Network (BSN) was a Chinese government-backed blockchain project that was reportedly recently working on infrastructure to help individuals and businesses build NFT-focused apps and platforms.

Cointelegraph reported that the project supports the development of platforms that can trade non-crypto NFTs using fiat currency.