China’s Fuzhou City offers cash benefits to blockchain firms

The government of China’s Fuzhou City on Friday unveiled a series of policies to attract investment from blockchain-related companies, including rent subsidies on office space and cash prizes for meeting revenue targets, in hopes of bringing more high-tech jobs to the city, which sits on the coast roughly halfway between Shanghai and Hong Kong.

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Fast facts

• The Fuzhou government will offer subsidies of up to 500,000 yuan ($71,811) to approved blockchain projects, according to a report by the Fuzhou Municipal Bureau of Finance and the local Chinese Communist Party Committee on Big Data.
• In addition, blockchain companies and institutions renting offices in three designated industrial complexes in Fuzhou can receive an annual rental subsidy of up to 600,000 yuan for every 1,000 square meters of office space.
• The local government will also offer cash rewards to local blockchain companies and institutions that receive government certifications, reach certain income thresholds or provide blockchain technology training services.
• For example, a company in Fuzhou certified by the state as a national-level laboratory for blockchain technologies could be awarded as much as 1 million yuan (US$143,622) by the local government, according to the report.
• Fuzhou, the provincial capital of China’s Fujian province, is located on the country’s southeastern coast. Positioning itself as a leader in China’s digital economy, the city has hosted the “Digital China Summit & Exhibition” – an annual event supported by Beijing – since April 2018.
• Blockchain technology is also being used by the Fuzhou government itself. At the sixth Digital China Summit & Exhibition in April 2023, local governments showcased the use of blockchain to store government data.
• China’s central government is promoting the potential of blockchain technology, despite bans on cryptocurrency trading and mining. Already in 2021, the State Council identified blockchain as one of the seven main areas of China’s digital economy. A national blockchain research center opened in Beijing last week, which aims to train over 500,000 blockchain professionals to support the country’s Web 3.0 development.

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