China bets heavily on blockchain: state plan 2025-2027 marks a strategic shift

Beijing has just dropped a bombshell: the government launched the “Beijing Blockchain Innovation and Application Development Action Plan (2025-2027)”, positioning blockchain as strategic digital infrastructure instead of just emerging tech.

The political play: “one chain, one network, one platform”

It is not just any regional plan. Multiple ministries (Commission of Science and Technology, Cyber Space Administration, among others) joined forces to build:

• A chain: next-generation blockchain 100% autonomous, with its own cryptography and consensus
• A network: national infrastructure that supports “petabyte-level node storage” and interoperability among 10,000+ chains
• A platform: unified service with digital identity management, cross-chain data directories, and support for “hundreds of millions of digital identities”

Five sectors in the spotlight

Peking seeks to create 20+ flagship use cases for 2027 in:

1. Health: immutable medical history + secure genetic data
2. Education: diplomas on chain, end of academic fraud
3. Finance: supply chain financing, cross-border payments, digital contracts
4. Transport: shared traffic data, optimized logistics
5. AI: model traceability, copyright protection, combating algorithmic bias

The phrase that awakens speculation

“Improve the value conversion capacity of digital assets through blockchain” — this line is making waves in the industry.

What does it mean? In the context of a strict ban on Bitcoin in China, some read this as: possible future space for tokenization of assets (non-cryptocurrency), intellectual property rights, and digital certificates under specific regulatory frameworks.

Nothing confirmed yet, but the door is not completely closed.

The different Chinese pattern

Unlike the West (bottom-up, market-driven, active financial innovation), China follows its own path:

• Top-down: state design, government-led
• Tech-first, not crypto-first: blockchain yes, speculation with cryptos no
• Real economy focus: improvement of efficiency, not risky financial products
• Total regulatory control: zero tolerance for money laundering or threats to monetary sovereignty

What does this mean

Peking is accelerating from pilot phase to systemic nationwide deployment. Blockchain is no longer an experiment; it is critical infrastructure.

Although the space for crypto remains limited, the underlying technology that empowers entire industries has a clear path. Expect to see more integrations in medical data, finance, and AI in the next 3-5 years.

The movement is clear: blockchain yes, digital money no (for now).