Author: Frank, PANews
Original Title: Who Can Become the Technical Foundation for China's Stablecoin? Four "National-Level" Public Chains Compete
Stablecoins are becoming a new strategic track for major global economies, with the United States, European Union, Hong Kong, and others competing to introduce regulatory frameworks to gain an advantage. However, the issuance of any stablecoin cannot be separated from a key underlying infrastructure - the public chain.
Against this backdrop, the industry's viewpoint that "our country lacks a globally influential public chain and should be led by central state-owned enterprises" has sparked heated discussion. This view is not groundless but easily overlooks a fact: since blockchain was elevated to a national strategic height in 2016, a blockchain infrastructure network led by the "national team" and aimed at serving the real economy has taken shape.
From the global connector BSN, the industrial foundation "Xinghuo·Chain Network", to the technical cornerstone "Changan Chain", and the public chain "exception" Conflux, they collectively constitute China's unique blockchain landscape. As the demand for stablecoins becomes increasingly urgent, which of these networks is most likely to break through and become a trust foundation for China's stablecoin vision facing the global market?
To accurately understand China's strategic intent, the term "public chain" must be redefined in the Chinese context. Directly equating it with a permissionless chain would lead to a serious conceptual deviation. In China, the "public chain" promoted at the national level is more akin to a "public infrastructure" or "trust infrastructure" guided by the state, allowing multi-party participation but ultimately controllable.
Among these, the currently influential ones in the industry include the Blockchain Service Network (BSN), Xinghuo·Chain Network, "Changan Chain", and the recently discussed public chain Conflux. PANews will review and analyze these blockchain networks to see who is more likely to become the foundation for China's stablecoin.
Blockchain Service Network (BSN): Multi-Framework Adaptation, Emphasizing No-Token Concept
In 2018, BSN was initiated by the National Information Center, China Mobile, China UnionPay, Beijing Red Date Technology, and other entities as a blockchain public infrastructure. Currently composed of BSN private network and BSN public network, the BSN private network primarily serves enterprises through the "BSN Distributed Cloud Management Platform", supporting deployment in various physical IDC machine rooms, public clouds, and private clouds to establish a blockchain-based distributed cloud system environment.
The BSN public network is more aligned with the familiar public chain and alliance chain concepts. In the BSN public network system, there are the BSN-DDC Basic Network (an open alliance chain facing China) and the BSN Spartan Network (a public distributed cloud service network composed of no-token public chains), targeting overseas markets.
Currently, in the DDC network system, multiple open alliance chains such as Yan'an Chain, Wenchang Chain, Tai'an Chain, Wuhan Chain, and China Mobile Chain have been established. These networks use frameworks like Ethereum, EOS, FISCO BCOS, and Corda, with main application scenarios including Non-Fungible Token (digital collections), distributed domain names, distributed identity (DID), and trusted data storage. The DDC network system is an alliance chain system without token design, with on-chain service fees requiring fiat currency recharge and targeting the domestic market.
The consensus mechanism of the BSN Spartan Network leans towards public chains like Ethereum, but remains a no-token public chain. BSN Spartan currently consists of three sub-chains based on Ethereum, Cosmos, and PolygonEdge. As of August 4th, the daily transaction volumes of these three chains were 1,068, 844, and 938 respectively.
Overall, BSN's core innovation lies in multi-framework adaptation, providing unified adaptation and management capabilities for dozens of mainstream blockchain underlying frameworks (including alliance chains and public chains). Through a standardized adaptation mechanism, developers can "plug and play" different underlying chains without worrying about complex deployment and maintenance details, like a universal "operating system" in the blockchain world. However, BSN's lack of Token mechanism, which is increasingly important for stablecoin demand, may become a constraint. BSN Development Alliance Standing Council Member and Red Date Technology CEO He Yifan has previously expressed strong aversion to virtual currencies, believing they are a massive Ponzi scheme.
"Xinghuo·Chain Network": Supported by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, Focusing on Industrial Domain
According to official introduction, "Xinghuo·Chain Network" is a national-level blockchain new integrated infrastructure system led by the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology under the leadership and special support of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, in collaboration with multiple large enterprises and institutions such as Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics and China Unicom.
From an architectural perspective, "Xinghuo·Chain Network" is divided into two layers: the first layer is the main chain composed of super nodes, used for managing identifiers, public data, or other legal assets and regulations that the state may provide in the future. The second layer is a sub-chain linked by backbone nodes, connecting various industry or regional applications.
It's worth noting that "Xinghuo·Chain Network" is a permissioned public blockchain network, and based on current information, it also lacks token design. Similarly, "Xinghuo·Chain Network" is divided into a domestic mainnet and an international version called ASTRON Network. Currently, the established super nodes include Xiamen and Liuzhou; backbone nodes include Jiaozhou, Hengqin, and Suzhou; international nodes include Malaysia and Macau. The node access threshold for "Xinghuo·Chain Network" is relatively high, requiring local government promotion.
"Xinghuo·Chain Network" highly focuses on industrial domain applications, including: full lifecycle traceability of high-end manufacturing products, collaborative management of complex supply chains, digital identity authentication and predictive maintenance of industrial equipment, and trusted sharing and trading of industrial data.
Changan Chain: Multiple Policy Mentions, Participation from State-Owned Enterprises and Internet Giants
Changan Chain is led by the Changan Chain Ecosystem Alliance, initiated by the Beijing Microchip Blockchain and Edge Computing Research Institute (abbreviated as "Microchip Institute") under the guidance and support of the Beijing Municipal Government.
The Changan Chain Ecosystem Alliance covers key central state-owned enterprises such as State Grid, China Construction Bank, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, China Unicom, and COFCO, as well as internet giants like Tencent and Baidu. Currently, the alliance has over 50 members.
In November 2021, "Changan Chain" was written into the "Beijing 14th Five-Year Plan for International Science and Technology Innovation Construction". In January 2022, it was mentioned in the Beijing Municipal Government Work Report. In the 2025 "Beijing Blockchain Innovation Application Development Action Plan (2025-2027)", "Changan Chain" was mentioned again.
Besides its profound background, Changan Chain also has notable technical advantages. The official claims its transaction throughput (TPS) can reach 10,000 levels, capable of meeting high-concurrency needs in large-scale financial and governmental scenarios.
Conflux: Developed by Tsinghua "Yao Class" Team, the Only Token-Issuing Public Chain in Mainland China
Unlike the above blockchain networks with obvious alliance chain characteristics, Conflux is currently the only public chain in mainland China that complies with regulatory requirements. Conflux was established in 2018 by Long Fan, a "Yao Class" graduate and MIT Ph.D., with Professor Yao Qizhi personally serving as the chief scientist and participating in core algorithm theoretical design. In January 2020, the Conflux team officially established the Shanghai Conflux Blockchain Research Institute. In October of the same year, the Conflux blockchain mainnet was officially launched.
As a complete public chain, Conflux also has a governance token CFX. Although mainland China has strict regulations on cryptocurrencies, Conflux has successfully issued and operated its token CFX, making it a unique "exception".
CFX, as a global crypto asset, has been listed and traded on multiple mainstream cryptocurrency exchanges, such as Binance, OKX, gate.io, etc. Its market price and market value are influenced by various factors including technological advancements, ecosystem development, and macroeconomic market environments. For example, recent positive news about Conflux 3.0 upgrade and plans to support offshore RMB stablecoin have caused its token price to surge significantly in the short term.
Moreover, the endorsement of the Conflux network is noteworthy. Conflux has been reported multiple times by mainstream official media such as People's Daily and has deeply collaborated with central enterprises like China Telecom and China Mobile. Additionally, Conflux is collaborating with financial technology company AnchorX to explore issuing a stablecoin anchored to offshore RMB (AxCNH) to support cross-border payment needs along the "Belt and Road" countries.
Who is more likely to become the technical foundation for stablecoins?
Besides the aforementioned blockchain networks with strong endorsements, China also has multiple alliance chains such as State Grid Chain (State Grid), Unicom Chain (China Unicom), China Mobile Chain (China Mobile), ICBC Chain (Industrial and Commercial Bank of China), Ant Chain (Ant Group), Zhixin Chain (Tencent), and Zhongyong Chain Network. Most of these alliance chains are initiated by central state-owned enterprises or tech giants, each with unique advantages and influence in their respective domains.
But returning to the original topic, does China have a public chain with international influence? The current answer is likely vacant. The primary reason is that most Chinese blockchain networks are alliance chains, with significant differences in consensus mechanisms and economic models compared to international public chains like ETH and Solana.
Among existing public chain infrastructures, "Conflux" might be the most likely to grow into an internationally recognized domestic public chain. From a technical perspective, Conflux possesses internationally recognized public chain characteristics and has innovative and performance advantages. Its official background and clear offshore RMB stablecoin exploration plan position it ahead in the stablecoin track.
Among other blockchain networks, "Chang'an Chain" also has the potential to serve as a foundational architecture for stablecoin issuance. In 2021, its research institution had already signed a strategic cooperation agreement with the Central Bank Digital Research Institute to jointly promote enterprise-level digital RMB applications based on "Chang'an Chain". Moreover, "Chang'an Chain" can support Token design, meeting stablecoin issuance technical requirements. Its powerful state-owned enterprise ecosystem provides natural advantages in promoting stablecoin applications between institutions or in specific scenarios.
Of course, with multiple Western companies beginning to treat cryptocurrencies as treasury assets and participate in public chain governance, China's public chain path might have a third option: participating in the governance of mainstream international public chains. After all, in a decentralized world, national boundaries often merely represent a difference in computing power percentage.
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