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Beijing to draft national Web3 development plan as authorities maintain draconian cryptocurrency ban on the mainland
- China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology said a strategic Web3 development plan will be drafted ‘in line with the country’s conditions’
- The proposed draft will seek to encourage ‘new business models’, such as non-fungible tokens and decentralised applications
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China will draft a national Web3 development plan to suit the country’s needs, according to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT), which did not mention cryptocurrencies even as Beijing maintains its support for Hong Kong’s ambition to become a major virtual-asset hub.
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The Chinese government will enhance its research on Web3 and formulate a strategic development plan for the hypothetical next-generation version of the World Wide Web that is “in line with the country’s conditions”, the MIIT said in a statement published on Tuesday.
The statement was addressed to Hong Kong lawmaker Johnny Ng Kit-chong, who submitted policy proposals to the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) in March this year, asserting that Web3 would have a “profound and lasting” impact on the country’s economic and social progress.
A member of both the CPPCC and Hong Kong’s Legislative Council, Ng is a vocal advocate for developing the city’s virtual-asset industry. Last year, Ng’s start-up accelerator G-Rocket set up a new programme that aims to bring 1,000 Web3 companies to Hong Kong by 2025.
The MIIT on Tuesday said that the proposed draft will not only clarify the country’s Web3 development path, technological priorities and application models, but also sharpen focus on areas including government affairs and industry.
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