China Approves Launch of New Blockchain Research Hub in Beijing

China’s Ministry of Science and Technology has approved the construction of its National Blockchain Technology Innovation Centre.

The research hub’s key objectives revolve around researching the technology for industrial applications as well as how it could be applied in the national economy, per state media reported by the South China Morning Post.

The new center will also collaborate with domestic universities in China, as well as research institutes and businesses.

The center will be led by the Microchip Research Institute, a research and development institution based in Beijing, as well as the Edge Computing Research Institute.

China’s crypto plays

The news comes despite China reaffirming its ban on cryptocurrency trading in September 2021, something that had effectively been in place since 2017.

Despite the strict limits on private citizens, some of the largest Chinese firms are still making significant inroads in terms of building out blockchain-based products.

Firms such as Alibaba, one of the world's largest tech firms by market capitalization, announced a collaboration with Avalanche blockchain to power node-as-a-service initiatives in December 2022.

NFTs are another sector that the Chinese government has shown interest in as well.

In December 2022, the country announced the launch of the “China Digital Asset Trading Platform.” The state-backed digital collectible marketplace is also expected to run on a native blockchain.