China Calls for a National Blockchain Network. What It Says

On 9 October 2026 the Communist Party of China's Central Committee and the State Council published a policy document, the "Opinions on Developing New Quality Productive Forces", that calls for a national blockchain network. Xinhua carried the full text that day. The network is one clause among 19 numbered measures: build "a nationwide integrated computing-power network and a national blockchain network". The document says nothing about cryptocurrency, and a separate central bank notice from February 2026 still treats crypto business on the mainland as illegal.

Key facts

• Who: the CPC Central Committee and the State Council, jointly.
• What: the "Opinions on Developing New Quality Productive Forces", a 19-measure plan for technology-led growth.
• When: published by Xinhua on 9 October 2026.
• The line itself: measure 9 lists "a national blockchain network" next to a national computing-power network, the "East Data, West Computing" project, smart manufacturing and the industrial internet.
• What it does not set: no dates, no budget, no technical design, and no agency named as responsible for the network.
• Crypto: not mentioned. A notice issued on 6 February 2026 by the People's Bank of China and seven other departments states that virtual currency business activities are illegal financial activities.

What exactly did China announce?

A sentence in a broad economic plan, not a stand-alone blockchain programme.

The Opinions are a joint Party and government document on what the leadership calls new quality productive forces: growth driven by science and technology. They run from research funding to talent policy. The blockchain network appears in measure 9, about merging the real and the digital economy. The same paragraph calls for better national data infrastructure, rules on who owns and trades data, and pilot projects for data as a factor of production.

It is not a plenum communiqué, and it is not the Five-Year Plan recommendations. The text refers back to the Party's fourth plenary session, but it is a separate document with its own measures.

Is it a public blockchain or a closed one?

The text does not say.

It names no consensus model, no node operators and no rules on who may join or read the network. It does not mention the Blockchain-based Service Network (BSN), the state-backed platform that Crypto Briefing describes as launched in 2020 for developers to deploy blockchain applications. Some coverage assumes the new network will build on BSN. That is a reasonable guess, but the document itself does not make it.

What the text does show is where the network sits. It is listed as infrastructure, beside computing power and data rules, with no mention of tokens or trading. Crypto Briefing reads it the same way: state-coordinated infrastructure, with no reference to crypto tokens, permissionless systems or trading.

Does this mean China is lifting its crypto ban?

No. Some of the reporting cites a rule that has since been replaced, though.

Some coverage described the plan as keeping China's 2021 ban in place. The 2021 notice is no longer the rule. On 6 February 2026 the People's Bank of China and seven other departments issued a new notice, Yinfa [2026] No. 42, which states that "virtual currency business activities are illegal financial activities" and repeals the 2021 notice. It also brings the tokenisation of real-world assets inside the same risk regime.

So the accurate version is this: the October plan is silent on crypto, and the February notice still bans it.

Why would a state want a blockchain without a currency?

For record-keeping, not for money.

A blockchain is a shared ledger that several parties can write to and check, where past entries are hard to rewrite. That is useful for data that moves between organisations: who owns a dataset, who has the right to use it, and whether a record was changed. The paragraph that names the network is mostly about exactly those data questions. A ledger can do that job without a native coin anyone can buy.

What should readers take from it?

• Read the source, not the headline. "China orders a national blockchain" is one clause, with no timetable attached.
• Do not read it as a market signal. Nothing in the text concerns tokens, exchanges or prices.
• Watch for the follow-up. The Opinions name no builder. If implementing rules follow, who builds the network and who may read it are the questions they would have to answer.
• Know the rules where you live. On the mainland, the February 2026 notice is the one that governs crypto activity.

How does this differ from a public chain?

The question the Opinions leave open is who may run the network and who may read it. On a public chain, the answer is anyone.

Nura Chain is a public blockchain that runs the Ethereum Virtual Machine: every block and transaction on it can be looked up in a public explorer, as the explorer guide shows. That is a different design choice, not a better answer to China's problem. Some institutions need a permissioned validator set, which is one of the reasons there are so many chains.

The February crypto notice is published by the China Securities Regulatory Commission. The primary source for the national blockchain network is the full text of the Opinions as published by Xinhua.