China plans to substantially complete its national blockchain infrastructure by 2030, with measures to extend the technology across trade, finance, manufacturing, logistics and government services under its latest national information technology strategy.

The Central Cyberspace Affairs Commission set out the country's digital development priorities in the National Informatization Plan for the 15th Five-Year Period. Five-year plans are China's central policy instruments for setting economic and technology priorities in successive cycles, and the 15th Five-Year Period spans 2026 to 2030, placing the blockchain completion target at the close of the current planning horizon. In an announcement on October 23, the Cyberspace Administration of China detailed plans for a central blockchain backbone, interconnected regional hubs and distributed digital identity services. In this infrastructure role, blockchain provides shared, tamper-evident records that multiple organizations can verify independently, which is what makes it a candidate base layer for cross-institution data exchange.

While the plan establishes 2030 as the target date for substantially completing the national blockchain network, it does not confirm that the infrastructure is already operational, nor does it provide a dedicated construction budget.

The initiative builds on earlier policy measures, including a joint opinion issued on October 9 by the Communist Party's Central Committee and the State Council. That document outlined steps to accelerate technology development and strengthen the integration of digital infrastructure with industrial production.

Regional deployments tied to trade and industry

The plan assigns specific blockchain applications to China's major economic regions, reflecting an intention to embed the technology in existing commercial and industrial systems.

In the Yangtze River Delta, one of the country's principal economic centers with extensive manufacturing, commercial activity and financial infrastructure, authorities intend to expand blockchain adoption in trade and financial services.

The Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region is expected to develop blockchain applications supporting airport connectivity and smart logistics. In the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, the plan emphasizes cross-border data flows, blockchain and government services operating across jurisdictions.

In southwestern China, the Chengdu-Chongqing economic region is expected to broaden blockchain applications across commerce, manufacturing and agriculture.

At the national level, the plan identifies shipping and freight digitization, government administration, taxation, development planning and low-carbon transitions as areas for further deployment. According to the document, these applications are intended to improve data exchange and coordination among businesses, institutions and public authorities, combining centralized infrastructure development with regional applications in support of China's broader digital transformation objectives.

Digital identity, privacy and standards

Beyond network construction, the plan calls for improvements to blockchain standards and to the infrastructure supporting the secure circulation of data. Authorities intend to strengthen distributed digital identity services, mutual recognition of digital identities and expand the use of privacy-preserving computing in data transactions. The strategy also calls for stronger cryptographic protections and wider adoption of public online identity authentication services.

Standards carry particular weight in this agenda: common technical rules are a precondition for the regional hubs and sectoral systems the plan envisions to interoperate into the single national network it targets.

For cross-border data transfers, the document retains security assessments, standard contracts for personal information exports and certification procedures. It additionally proposes industry guidance, service centers and testing platforms to help businesses comply with applicable requirements.

The standards program covers blockchain alongside integrated circuits, operating systems and databases. China also intends to participate more actively in international standards development and to promote the international adoption of its national technical standards.

The broader infrastructure agenda includes national computing networks and closer coordination between computing facilities and electricity supplies, positioning blockchain within a wider program to expand computing capacity, improve data utilization and strengthen technological capabilities.

Digital yuan kept separate from crypto trading

The plan also calls for the steady development of the digital yuan, China's central bank digital currency, alongside measures to regulate electronic trade documents and expand digital services. The digital yuan has been available through public pilot programs since 2020, giving the steady-development language an existing operational base. However, the plan sets no transaction target for the digital yuan and does not specify how the currency would connect to the proposed national blockchain backbone.

China continues to distinguish blockchain technology from cryptocurrency trading. Commercial activities involving crypto assets remain prohibited in mainland China, even as authorities promote blockchain research and applications in industrial and financial infrastructure. The country's blockchain push gained political momentum in 2019, when President Xi Jinping called for accelerated development and greater investment in the technology.

Funding and implementation details remain unclear

Among the plan's digital economy targets is a goal for core digital economy industries to account for 12.5% of gross domestic product by 2030. The implementation provisions assign coordination and monitoring responsibilities to central cyberspace authorities and call for regular national informatization reports.

The document also encourages the use of fiscal resources, industry funds and long-term investment capital to support information technology development. However, it does not disclose a separate spending allocation or an annual construction schedule for the blockchain network. With no dedicated budget disclosed, funding and construction specifics would have to surface through later implementation documents, and the required regular national informatization reports offer a recurring checkpoint at which progress on the network could be observed.

The 2030 target signals a long-term commitment to blockchain as part of China's national digital infrastructure, with progress likely to depend on regional implementation, technical standardization and the integration of secure data-sharing systems across industries.

Source: CoinTrust