Key Takeaways
- China proposed a national blockchain network to deeply integrate its real and digital economies.
- This network aims to enhance data property ownership and efficiently manage nationwide digital resources.
- The plan supports the ‘East data, West computing’ project, shifting computing centers to western regions.
China Pushes for Creation of National Blockchain Network as Part of New Productivity Guidelines
China, one of the largest economies, is looking to blockchain, the technology behind digital assets, to increase its productivity through scientific and technological innovation.
In the latest opinion of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the State Council on developing new productivity qualities, blockchain technology is referred to as a key technology for integrating the real and digital economies.
The document pushes to build a national blockchain network in the context of managing data in a more efficient way, combining it with a national integrated computing network to power its action.
It also calls to “improve the systems for data property ownership identification, market transactions, rights and interests distribution, and interest protection, implement pilot demonstration projects related to data elements, and fully unleash the potential of data elements,” an objective that can be achieved with the use of a national blockchain network.
For the construction of such a network, the communist party calls for in-depth digital transformations, including the implementation of the “East data, West computing” project, which encompasses the movement of computing centers from the eastern regions to the western regions of the country to take advantage of the abundant resources present in these regions.
China’s fascination with blockchain tech is not new: the country had sought to develop its blockchain capabilities since 2019, when President Xi promoted it as an “important breakthrough for independent innovation of core technologies.”
In 2022, China designated 15 pilot zones, including Beijing and Shanghai, as well as Guangzhou and Chengdu in the southern Guangdong and Sichuan provinces, to be home to innovative blockchain applications. At the time, 164 entities, including hospitals, universities, and companies, were selected to carry out these projects.
More recently, in 2025, the People’s Bank of China highlighted blockchain technology as part of its annual strategy, revealing that it would leverage it to “achieve one-stop online processing of cross-border electronic tax payment business.”
