(Rejected) Shanghai Sees Blockchain as One of the Drivers of its Digital Economy

Known as one of the most bullish blockchain-centric municipalities in China, Shanghai, the country’s financial hub has doubled down on its trust in Blockchain and has named it one of the key innovations that will help it achieve its future digital economic goals.

The goals are outlined in the recently published Shanghai’s “14th Five-Year Plan for Shanghai's Digital Economy Development” in which it hopes its digital economy will rake in 3 trillion yuan (approximately US$7.22 billion) of the City’s cumulative Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by 2025. If this figure is achieved, it will account for 60% of the city’s total GDP.

“The new digital track and new kinetic energy continue to grow. Focus on breakthroughs in a number of key technologies in key areas such as artificial intelligence, blockchain, cloud computing, and big data, and cultivate a number of blockbuster products, digital technology innovation, and digital products in intelligent connected vehicles, wearable devices, intelligent robots, etc. Supply capacity has been significantly improved,” the issued notice detailed.

Shanghai has continued to play a pivotal role in the advancement of blockchain technology in China. One of the City’s Municipal Commission’s first moves to embrace blockchain back in November 2019 was in appending its signature to a written proposal giving the Shanghai government departments and six financial companies an opportunity to establish an E-port area blockchain alliance with the sole aim of fostering international trade and financial services.

The Shanghai High Court also started using blockchain technology to record hearings as part of its court record reform pilot back in July 2020 as reported by Blockchain.News at the time. Now that it has once again named blockchain as one of the drivers of its digital economy in the next five years, it wants the tech to contribute to bringing as many as 10,000 new startups into the Shanghai digital economy on an annualized basis.