Web3 has come to be referred to as the web constructed on decentralized blockchains that energy purposes like cryptocurrencies and NFTs. The catch-all time period is usually used interchangeably with crypto, however in China, the federal government is pursuing its personal path in web3 that up to now has excluded all issues crypto-related.
Earlier this week, the Beijing Municipal Science & Technology Commission, Administrative Commission of Zhongguancun Science Park launched a white paper on the so-called Internet 3.0 that supplied a peek into China’s stance on web3. The paper caught the eye of Binance founder Changpeng Zhao, who mentioned in a viral tweet that “web3 [is] all over the places” within the doc.
It’s price noting that the white paper is from Zhongguancun, the Chinese authorities’s designated high-tech industrial zone that’s dwelling to a number of the nation’s better-known tech corporations, and should not essentially mirror the official place of Beijing’s municipal authorities, not to mention the nation’s prime policymakers. Zhao additionally appears to have conflated what the Commission dubs Internet 3.0 with web3.
Nevertheless, the doc hints at how some Chinese officers are discussing phrases like Internet 3.0 and web3.
The white paper defines Internet 3.0 as “a three-dimensional space that combines virtual and real realms with a highly immersive interactive experience. It will greatly improve the interaction between people and information and the efficiency of economic activities. It’s characterized by a high level of intelligence and the advancement of virtual-real integration.”
Web3 is only one component inside this new immersive world. The paper goes on to elucidate that Internet 3.0 “includes the essence of the metaverse and web3. Its concept embodies the transition of human society and economy from reality to virtuality, from virtuality to reality, and the virtual-real integration.”
In different phrases, Internet 3.0 isn’t simply web3 however includes AR/VR, the metaverse (nevertheless you outline that) and different ideas that spotlight the combination of the digital and actual worlds.
Changes in Hong Kong
The white paper arrives at a very attention-grabbing time given Hong Kong lately carried out its new regulatory regime for cryptocurrencies, permitting licensed exchanges to serve retail traders, a departure from mainland China’s crackdown on all types of crypto buying and selling.
The new crypto-friendly regulation, nevertheless, solely applies to individuals in Hong Kong and stays off-limits to mainland customers. King Leung, head of fintech at InvestHK, town’s overseas direct funding division, defined in an interview with Coindesk that licensed exchanges within the metropolis are obliged to comply with the foundations of various jurisdictions all over the world. That contains barring customers from mainland China, the place crypto is banned, from accessing their companies by IP tackle blocking. This observe has grow to be the usual for main exchanges since China outlawed crypto transactions in 2021.
Still, modifications in Hong Kong are boosting confidence amongst crypto traders and builders in mainland China who view it as an indication of the nation’s softening stance on digital belongings. As one Chinese founding father of a decentralized identification startup advised me: “Hong Kong has historically served as the testing ground for mainland China. The [new regulatory regime] shows that the government is watching and experimenting.”
The actuality on the mainland
The white paper indicators that China is open to incorporating web3 in its future web in some capability. Impressively, it mentions Gavin Wood, a co-founder of Ethereum, and the way he was the primary to expound the idea of web3, a set of inclusive protocols that present fundamental modules for software builders, enabling them to construct purposes in new methods. The paper additionally references how artist Beeple’s record-breaking Christie’s public sale helped convey NFT into the mainstream consciousness.
As for the way web3 may manifest in China in a tangible means, the paper echoes Western technologists in sustaining that web3 allows read-write-own, permitting customers to not solely eat and create data but additionally personal their knowledge. The paper argues that within the new world the place actuality and virtuality merge, a brand new financial system will emerge, and “web3 will serve as a crucial foundation for identity verification, data authentication, asset trading and regulation in the metaverse.”
The assertion seems a very good signal for blockchain adoption in China. In truth, the nation’s private and non-private sectors have been cautiously exploring blockchain throughout a spread of fields that don’t contain cryptocurrencies, which regulators fear can spark hypothesis and market volatility. Furthermore, as a substitute of censorship-resistant public blockchains, China encourages the usage of consortium blockchains which can be ruled solely by chosen contributors reasonably than anybody out within the public.
Ant Group, the fintech affiliate of Alibaba, as an illustration, launched a consortium blockchain for small enterprises and builders to construct “trust in multi-party collaborations, including in areas such as supply chain finance, product provenance, digital invoices and charitable donations.”