China’s top leadership has called for a national blockchain network as one of 19 measures in a new economic blueprint. The same document warns officials against creating bubbles and abandoning the real economy for the virtual one.
A blockchain is a shared digital record kept across many computers. Beijing wants the technology, yet the plan says nothing about Bitcoin or any other cryptocurrency.
What China’s Blockchain Plan Actually Says
The Communist Party’s Central Committee and the State Council, China’s cabinet, issued the policy on October 9. State news agency Xinhua carried it on the government’s website the same day.
The blockchain line sits beside a nationwide computing grid, in a section on merging traditional industry with digital technology.
It also backs “East Data, West Computing,” which sends data from eastern cities to western data centers. Separately, it calls for rules on who owns and trades data.
China already runs a state-backed system, the Blockchain-based Service Network (BSN), launched in April 2020.
It does not allow independent cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, according to Stanford’s DigiChina project. The new document does not say whether the national network will build on it.
The plan hands follow-up work to the Central Financial and Economic Affairs Commission and the National Development and Reform Commission. Their rules will show what the network carries and whether crypto stays shut out.
Why Bitcoin Sits Outside China’s Plan
Crypto trading remains illegal in mainland China. In February, the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) and seven other agencies restated that ban.
Beijing’s digital money push runs through its own currency. In August, the PBOC’s five-year plan pledged to steadily develop the digital yuan, China’s state-issued digital currency, according to Xinhua.
The blueprint landed three days after Joseph Chee, chief executive of Nasdaq-listed Solana Company, spoke on CNBC.
“I think the crypto is going to go through another super cycle,” he said.
Chee tied that outcome to Beijing allowing access to trading, BeInCrypto reported earlier this week. He named capital flight as the bigger obstacle and gave no timeline.
