China’s ‘two sessions’: first mention of blockchain in five-year plan boosts still-nascent industry

  • China’s 14th five-year plan sets the policy direction for the world’s second-largest economy in the next half-decade
  • Blockchain plays key role in the country’s digital economy under President Xi Jinping’s Vision 2035 strategy

(210305) -- BEIJING, March 5, 2021 (Xinhua) -- The fourth session of the 13th National People’s Congress (NPC) opens at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, March 5, 2021. (Xinhua/Ding Lin)
Blockchain, the technology that enables the creation of a shared and cryptographically-secured digital ledger, was mentioned for the first time in a draft of China’s national five-year plan, the latest of which was approved by the top legislature at the conclusion of its annual meeting on Thursday, although the final version has yet to be made public.

Coming in the form of a lengthy document that is long on big ideas and short on specifics, the 14th five-year plan lays out the broad goals that the country aims to work towards in the next half-decade and beyond.

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