In a document released by China’s Ministry of Science and Technology, the agency clarifies the path forward for Web3, focusing on key areas such as government affairs and industry. The government emphasized that they would “encourage the development of new business models such as NFT and distributed applications (dApp), and accelerate the innovative application of Web3 and the construction of a digital ecosystem.”
The ministry also revealed plans to launch pilot programs related to distributed digital identity to explore digital identity verification and management on Web3. The central government’s support comes after a number of local governments in China committed to developing the metaverse industry in 2024-2025.
The Shandong government expects to reach a market size of up to 150 billion yuan ($20.5 billion) by 2025. Meanwhile, Sichuan also announced a draft plan to expand its metaverse industry to reach a market size of $34.4 billion by 2025.
Although China issued a ban on cryptocurrency trading from September 2021, NFT trading in the country is not affected. The government even launched a blockchain network providing national decentralized identification service China RealDID to protect personal data, which can register or log in to commercial websites with DID addresses and user’s private key.
Therefore, Chinese citizens remain optimistic about domestic blockchain technology and the digital economy. Chinese courts still identify crypto as a legal asset; technology giants like Alibaba, Tencent or Huawei are focusing on developing their own blockchain technology.
In addition, the Chinese government is seeking to position Beijing as a global innovation center for the digital economy through the release of a whitepaper in May 2023.