Suzhou, a city located in Jiangsu province, will set up China’s first blockchain demonstration pilot zone, supported by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT), according to a local media report.

Fast facts

  • MIIT agreed to Jiangsu Province’s request for support to set up a pilot zone for blockchain in Suzhou and said it hopes the city can take action soon.
  • According to a research report released in March by a Chinese blockchain institute, CCID, Suzhou’s blockchain development level ranked fourth in the country in 2020, after Beijing, Shanghai, and Hangzhou. The evaluation criteria are mainly based on policy support, research and innovation results, industrial foundation, and financial support.
  • Suzhou is one of the first four pilot cities for the digital yuan. So far, according to Forkast.News’ data, three batches of e-CNY red envelopes totaling 60 million yuan (US$9 million) have been issued in the city to boost the adoption rate of digital currency. In addition, the city has also issued two more batches of red packets jointly with Shanghai for cross-city e-currency trials, totaling 36 million yuan (US$5.7 million).