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China’s Central Cyberspace Affairs Commission published the 15th Five-Year Plan for National Informatization on Friday, October 23, 2026, setting 2030 as the target date for the country’s national blockchain network to be essentially finished. Cointribune reported that the plan names priority regions and uses, from finance to freight logistics, while leaving the country’s crypto ban untouched.
The document makes the 2030 completion date explicit for a project already in China’s national development plan. Cointelegraph reported that the buildout entered that plan in March, and that a joint policy from the Communist Party’s central leadership and the State Council on October 9 called for construction to begin.
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Key facts
- The Central Cyberspace Affairs Commission released the 15th Five-Year Plan for National Informatization on October 23, 2026, per Cointribune and Cointelegraph.
- The plan calls for a central backbone network, interconnected regional hubs and decentralized digital identity services, Cointribune reported.
- Priority regions are the Yangtze River Delta, the Chengdu-Chongqing region, Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei and the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.
- The document contains no reference to cryptocurrency; Beijing has banned transactions and financial services tied to crypto since 2021.
- Cryptobriefing reported that the blockchain goals sit alongside commercial 6G launch, computing infrastructure, satellite internet and AI, plus plans for a network spanning land, sea, air and space.
Four hubs, four sets of tasks
The plan assigns different work to each region. The Yangtze Delta is meant to develop blockchain applications in commerce and finance, while Chengdu-Chongqing is directed toward large-scale deployment in commercial exchanges, manufacturing and agriculture. Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei is to apply the technology to intelligent logistics around its two airport hubs, and the Greater Bay Area is to speed up innovative applications and make cross-border data exchanges easier.
Two supporting tasks run across the hubs: tightening technical standards and making data flow between systems. Both are needed for the separate infrastructures to communicate. Cointelegraph reported that the plan also calls for greater blockchain use in data circulation and trading.
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No opening for crypto
Beijing’s position separates permissioned infrastructure from public crypto networks. The plan promotes blockchain while enforcing the crypto ban, a course China has followed since 2019, when, as Cointelegraph noted, President Xi Jinping called for more investment in blockchain and named it an important area for domestic technological capability.
The quantitative targets point the same way. Cointribune reported that by 2030 China aims to raise internet penetration from 80.1% to 85%, lift 5G stations per 10,000 inhabitants from 34 to 50, and increase the IPv6 traffic share from 33.79% to 42%.
The reports differ in emphasis rather than substance: Cointribune flagged the October 9 document as laying groundwork, while Cointelegraph placed it as a joint policy from the party leadership and State Council and noted the March inclusion in the national plan. Cointribune also raised a question the plan leaves unanswered: under what conditions foreign actors could access the network.
Why it matters
The plan matters most for Chinese enterprises in trade, manufacturing, logistics and public administration, which would gain a shared settlement and data layer rather than the public blockchains used elsewhere. It also widens the split between state-run blockchain infrastructure and open crypto markets, a distinction regulators in other jurisdictions continue to argue over. For crypto markets, the signal is continuity: no softening of the ban and no pathway to trading through the network.
What to watch
The 2030 deadline is the benchmark. Before then, watch how the four hubs link their systems, whether technical standards for cross-system data flow are published, and whether the plan is followed by rules on foreign participation.
Reported by cointribune.com.
Sources: Cointribune, Cointelegraph, Cryptobriefing