Beijing Once Banned Bitcoin – Now It’s Made Blockchain Inevitable

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Two years ago, China banned crypto outright, leaving Web 3.0 companies blocking signups from Chinese users and fleeing the Middle Kingdom.

Now, Beijing may be responsible for quietly making Web 3.0 all but inevitable.

It was easy news to miss if you don’t speak Chinese or follow blockchain news – but on June 2, 2023, officials speaking at an industry forum released the ‘Beijing Internet 3.0 Innovation Development White Paper.’

The document outlined the capital city’s attempts to encourage consensus and development of the Web 3.0 industry, laying out technical needs behind the tech that Beijing officials believe will undergird generative artificial intelligence, content production tools, XR interaction terminals and other technologies.

To be clear, the People’s Bank of China hasn’t reversed its September 2021 ban on cryptocurrencies, which perhaps make up the most prominent use case of the blockchain for casual Web 3.0 users.

China has kept the 2021 ban, which led companies like Binance and Huobi to stop people with Chinese phone numbers from using their services.

For some crypto purists, the omission of digital currencies negates any sense of forward momentum.

Many in the space have mixed feelings about CBDCs (central bank digital currencies) like the ‘digital yuan’ that China has in the works, and it doesn’t take much for them to get up in arms.

Those skeptics are missing the point though.

While Chinese residents won’t be trading Bitcoin any time soon, the decision by Beijing and dozens of other cities across China to publish reports voicing support for blockchain technologies is a clear sign that they see Web 3.0 as critical infrastructure for the future internet.

In fact, the white paper calls Web 3.0 “the culmination of modern science and technology, and the inevitable trend of future internet industry development,” according to translations of the text posted by Zhao Changpeng, CEO of Binance, on Twitter this week.

This is what mass Web 3.0 adoption looks like. It’s piece by piece, brick by brick.

It’s critical validation for the underlying technology driving everything from cryptocurrencies and non-fungible tokens to digital ledger services and decentralized financial services.

Even countries with CBDCs have some benefits.

While government-regulated currencies artificially restrict competition, they will most likely give Web 3.0 users and app developers clearer…