Author: Frank, PANews
Stablecoins are becoming a strategic new race for major global economies, with the United States, the European Union, Hong Kong, and other regions competing to launch regulatory frameworks to seize the initiative. However, the issuance of any stablecoin relies on a key underlying infrastructure—a public chain.
Against this background, the industry viewpoint that 'China currently lacks a globally influential public chain, which should be led by central state-owned enterprises' has sparked heated discussion. This viewpoint is not unfounded, but it also tends to overlook 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 already taken shape.
From the global connector BSN, the industrial base 'Spark Chain Network', to the technological cornerstone 'Chang'an Chain', and then to the 'exception' of Conflux as a public chain, they collectively form China's unique blockchain landscape. With the increasing urgency for stablecoins, which of these networks is most likely to break through and become the trust base for China's stablecoin vision, facing globally?
To accurately understand China's strategic intentions, it is necessary to redefine the term 'public chain' in the Chinese context. Equating it directly with permissionless chains leads to serious conceptual deviations. In China, the 'public chain' promoted at the national level is essentially closer to a 'public infrastructure' or 'trust infrastructure' guided by the state, allowing participation from multiple parties but ultimately controllable.
Among them, the currently influential ones in the industry include the Blockchain Service Network (BSN), Spark Chain Network, 'Chang'an Chain', and the recently discussed public chain Conflux. PANews conducts an inventory analysis of these blockchain networks to see which is more likely to become the foundation of China's stablecoin.
Blockchain Service Network (BSN): Multi-framework adaptation, focusing on the non-token concept
In 2018, BSN was jointly initiated by the National Information Center, China Mobile, China UnionPay, Beijing Hongzao Technology, and other units, as a blockchain public infrastructure. It currently consists of BSN private network and BSN public network, where BSN private network mainly serves enterprises, primarily as 'BSN Distributed Cloud Management Platform', supporting deployment in various physical IDC data centers, public clouds, and private clouds, establishing a distributed cloud system environment based on blockchain.
The BSN public network is more inclined towards the concepts of public chains and consortium chains that we are familiar with. In the BSN public network system, it is divided into BSN-DDC basic network (aimed at China's open consortium chains) and BSN Spartan network (a public distributed cloud service network composed of non-token public chains), targeting overseas markets.
Currently, within the DDC network system, there are several open consortium chains such as Yan'an Chain, Wenchang Chain, Taian Chain, Wuhan Chain, and China Mobile Chain. These networks utilize frameworks like Ethereum, EOS, FISCO BCOS, and Corda, with main application scenarios including NFTs (digital collections), distributed domain names, distributed identities (DID), and trusted data storage. The DDC network system is a consortium chain system without token design, and the usual on-chain service fees need to be recharged with fiat currency, targeting the domestic market.
The consensus mechanism of BSN Spartan network is more inclined towards public chains like Ethereum, but the difference is still that it is a non-token public chain. The BSN Spartan currently consists of three sub-chains based on Ethereum, Cosmos, and PolygonEdge. As of August 4, the daily transaction volumes of these three chains are 1,068, 844, and 938, respectively.
Overall, the core innovation of BSN lies in its multi-framework adaptation and unified management capabilities for dozens of mainstream blockchain underlying frameworks globally (including consortium chains and public chains). Through a standardized adaptation mechanism, developers can select different underlying chains in a 'plug-and-play' manner without worrying about complex deployment and operational details, akin to a universal 'operating system' for the blockchain world. However, the lack of an open token mechanism may become a constraint for the growing demand for stablecoins. He Yifan, executive director of the BSN Development Alliance and CEO of Hongzao Technology, has previously expressed strong aversion to virtual currencies, considering them a huge Ponzi scheme.
'Spark Chain Network': Supported by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, focusing on the industrial sector
According to official introductions, 'Spark Chain Network' is a national-level blockchain integrated infrastructure system led by the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology, jointly constructed with several large enterprises and institutions such as Beihang University, Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications, and China Unicom under the leadership and special support of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.
Structurally, 'Spark Chain Network' is divided into two layers; the first layer consists of a main chain formed by super nodes, which is used to manage 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, which connects various applications in industry or regional areas.
It is worth noting that 'Spark Chain Network' is a permissioned public blockchain network, and from the current information, it also does not have a token design. Similarly, 'Spark Chain Network' is divided into a domestic mainnet and an international version called ASTRON. Currently, existing super nodes of 'Spark Chain Network' include Xiamen and Liuzhou; backbone nodes include Jiaozhou, Hengqin, Suzhou, etc.; international nodes include Malaysia and Macau. The entry threshold for nodes in 'Spark Chain Network' is relatively high, requiring local government to promote construction.
'Spark Chain Network's application scenarios are highly focused on the industrial sector, 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.
Chang'an Chain (ChainMaker): Frequently included in policy planning, with participation from state-owned enterprises and internet giants
'Chang'an Chain' is led by the Chang'an Chain Ecological Alliance, initiated by the Beijing Microchip Blockchain and Edge Computing Research Institute (referred to as 'Microchip Institute') under the guidance and support of the Beijing municipal government.
The Chang'an Chain Ecological Alliance includes key central state-owned enterprises in critical fields such as State Grid, China Construction Bank, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, China Unicom, COFCO Group, as well as internet giants like Tencent and Baidu. Currently, the alliance has over 50 members.
In November 2021, 'Chang'an Chain' was included in the '14th Five-Year Plan' for international scientific and technological innovation construction by the Beijing municipal government. In January 2022, 'Chang'an Chain' was mentioned in the Beijing government work report. In 2025 (Beijing Blockchain Innovation Application Development Action Plan (2025-2027)), 'Chang'an Chain' was mentioned again.
In addition to its deep background, 'Chang'an Chain' also has obvious technical advantages. Officially, it claims that its transaction throughput (TPS) can reach 100,000 levels, capable of meeting the high concurrency demands of large-scale finance, government affairs, and other scenarios.
Conflux (Conflux): Built by Tsinghua 'Yao Class' team, the only public chain issuing tokens in mainland China
Unlike the above several blockchain networks that have obvious consortium chain characteristics, Conflux is currently the only public chain in mainland China that meets regulatory requirements. Conflux was founded in 2018 by Long Fan, a graduate of the 'Yao Class' and a PhD from MIT, with Academician Yao Qizhi serving as the chief scientist and participating in the theoretical design of core algorithms. In January 2020, the Conflux team officially established the Shanghai Conflux Blockchain Research Institute in Shanghai. In October of the same year, the Conflux mainnet officially went live.
As a complete public chain, Conflux also possesses governance token CFX. Although mainland China has strict regulatory policies on cryptocurrencies, Conflux's successful issuance and operation of its token CFX is a unique 'exception'.
As a global cryptocurrency asset, CFX has been listed on multiple mainstream cryptocurrency exchanges, such as Binance, OKX, and Gate.io. Its market price and market capitalization are influenced by various factors, including technological progress, ecological development, and macro market environment. For example, recent positive news regarding Conflux 3.0 upgrades and support for offshore RMB stablecoin plans has led to a significant short-term increase in its token price.
In addition, the backing situation of Conflux cannot be underestimated; it has been reported multiple times by mainstream official media such as People's Daily and has deep cooperation with several state-owned enterprises such as China Telecom and China Mobile. Furthermore, Conflux is collaborating with the fintech company AnchorX to explore the issuance of a stablecoin pegged to offshore RMB (AxCNH) to support cross-border payment needs in countries along the 'Belt and Road'.
Who is more likely to become the technical foundation for stablecoins?
In addition to the aforementioned blockchain networks with strong backing, there are also several consortium chains in the country, 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 Zhongxiang Chain Network. Most of these consortium chains are also initiated by central state-owned enterprises or technology giants. They have unique advantages and influence in their respective fields.
But returning to the initial topic, does China have a public chain with international influence? As of now, the answer should be lacking. The main reason is that most of China's blockchain networks are consortium chains, which differ significantly in consensus mechanisms and economic models from overseas public chains like Ethereum and Solana.
Among the existing public chain infrastructures, 'Conflux' is the most likely to grow into an internationally recognized domestic public chain. From a technical perspective, 'Conflux' possesses internationally accepted public chain characteristics and has originality and performance advantages in technology. Its official background and clear exploration plans for offshore RMB stablecoins place it in a leading position in the stablecoin race.
Among other blockchain networks, 'Chang'an Chain' also has the potential to become the underlying architecture for stablecoin issuance. In 2021, its research institution, Microchip Institute, signed a strategic cooperation agreement with the Central Bank's Digital Currency Research Institute to jointly promote enterprise-level applications of digital RMB based on 'Chang'an Chain'. Additionally, 'Chang'an Chain' also supports Token design, meeting the technical requirements for stablecoin issuance. Its strong central state-owned enterprise ecosystem gives it a natural advantage in promoting stablecoin applications between institutions or in specific scenarios.
Of course, in addition to this, as publicly listed companies in several European and American countries begin to treat cryptocurrencies as part of their treasury and participate in the governance of public chains, China’s public chain journey may have a third option, which is participating in the governance of international mainstream public chains. After all, in a decentralized world, the distinction of national borders often boils down to a percentage difference in computing power.
