China’s capital city, Beijing, is inviting public tenders on a project to build a blockchain platform and computing center for government affairs with a total bidding price of 242 million yuan (approximately US$37.8 million).
Fast facts
- The bidding project, “Beijing Municipal Experimental Blockchain Platform,” is for storing residents’ and city facility’s information and dealing with government affairs via blockchain. The project is a part of supporting China’s massive homegrown blockchain Chang’an Chain. The platform finally aims to support an ultra-large-scale blockchain network with more than 1 million nodes and a peak speed of 1 million transactions per second, a state-owned news agency reported.
- The bidding document revealed the platform’s functions: it can record company registration information, and residents’ personal information including identities, driver’s licenses, household registration; code and record city buildings and roads; and allow a multi-departmental collaboration system for review and approve government-affairs applications.
- In 2021, some government and judiciary sectors began to invite bidding for buying blockchain platforms, according to publicly available documents. In October, Changsha, the capital city of Hunan Province, posted a bid to purchase a blockchain platform with a 6.6 million yuan (US$1,032,974) budget. Yet, so far, there is still no announcement of the winning bidder. In September, the Shanghai People’s Court purchased a blockchain platform as part of the national judicial blockchain system at the cost of 91 million yuan (US$142,993).
- Blockchain has been written into the new five-year plan — a guiding document for the country’s future social development and economic growth. The authorities are now promoting blockchain adoption in various industries while ruthlessly expelling cryptocurrencies.