China plans to encourage the development of non-fungible tokens and decentralized applications as the country continues to embrace blockchain technology – despite a ban on cryptocurrency. The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology said in a document released on Tuesday that it plans to formulate strategy documents to clarify web3’s development path.
“The focus will be on key areas such as governance and industry, with encouragement for the exploration of new business models such as NFTs and decentralized applications, accelerating innovative applications and the construction of a digital ecosystem for Web 3.0,” the central government said in the document, intended to answer questions from Jonny Ng, member of the CPPCC National Committee, the country’s top political advisory body.
The ministry added that it plans to launch pilots on distributed digital identity to explore web3 digital identity authentication and management.
The central government’s latest encouragement for web3 development comes after several local governments pledged to develop the metaverse industry earlier this year. Sichuan – a southwestern Chinese province that was once a crypto mining hub before the country’s mining ban – promised in August that it will do just that growing his metaverse industry to reach a market size of 250 billion yuan ($35.1 billion) by 2025.
While China banned cryptocurrency trading on the mainland in September 2021, homegrown NFT trading persisted but remained in a regulatory gray area.
Real name DID
Earlier this month, the state-backed Blockchain-based Service Network China launched a national-level decentralized identification system to support the research institute of the country’s Ministry of Public Security.
“China RealDID is seen as an extension of Anicert’s Cyber Trusted Identity,” BSN said in a statement shared with The Block, adding that the launch of the system is a “bold step in protecting personal data.” The system allows users to register or log in to a commercial website using their DID address and private keys, according to the statement.
“Despite the ban on cryptocurrencies, China’s progress in blockchain technology is remarkable, especially in pioneering the Real-Name Decentralized Identifier for the Web3 domain,” noted BSN, the developer of China’s national blockchain infrastructure , on.