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China has been hostile toward cryptocurrencies for years. Marco Verch/flickr

KEY POINTS

  • The network is aimed at supporting multi-country deployment in projects under the BRI
  • Conflux Network, which calls itself as the 'only' regulatory compliant blockchain in China, will lead the project
  • Beijing has been hostile toward the crypto sector since at least 2017 and banned all crypto mining in 2021

China has launched what reports say is a "super-large-scale" blockchain infrastructure that will be used by the public as part of the Asian powerhouse's cooperative projects in its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).

According to a post by Shanghai-based Treemap Blockchain Research Institute on Chinese social media and messaging app WeiXin (WeChat) on Monday, the project "aims to face the characteristics and needs of the 'Belt and Road' transnational cooperation scenario, develop an advanced blockchain basic platform that supports multi-country deployment and multi-subject collaborative supervision," as per a Google translation.

Asian cryptocurrency news outlet Wu Blockchain later reported that the Chinese government launched a blockchain project called "Ultra-Large Scale Blockchain Infrastructure Platform for the Belt and Road Initiative." The report added that the project has set certain limits, considering how Beijing has barred institutions across the country from engaging in crypto-related activities.

"The blockchain here [within the project] should not include cryptocurrency and any tokens," the report said.

The project is being led by Conflux Network, which calls itself "the only regulatory compliant, public permissionless blockchain in China."

Conflux has since confirmed the project's launch, reposting Wu Blockchain's X (formerly Twitter) report and explaining that it aims to create a public blockchain network that should support "the implementation of cross-border cooperation projects along the" BRI.

China mainland has had a negative attitude toward crypto. Since at least 2017, Beijing's hostility toward cryptocurrencies has been apparent. At the time, Chinese Bitcoin exchanges were ordered to shut down. Regulators reportedly announced that "all" Chinese digital currency exchanges should halt their operations to remain compliant with China laws.

In 2021, Chinese regulators announced a blanket ban on all crypto mining activities and cryptocurrency transactions. A total of 10 regulators, including China's central bank and foreign exchange regulators, said at the time that they would cooperate to crack down on "illegal" crypto operations.

"In the history of crypto market regulation in China, this is the most direct, most comprehensive regulatory framework involving the largest number of ministries," said Winston Ma, NYU Law School adjunct professor, about Beijing's latest attempt to clamp down on the emerging sector.

The development is seen as a positive signal from the Chinese government, as it has fallen behind in terms of countries transitioning to crypto use. Still, China remains one of the most crypto-unfriendly nations around the world as it has repeatedly said cryptocurrencies were being used to launder criminal proceeds.

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