15th Five-Year Plan: Where are the opportunities for digital assets?

The "Suggestions of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on Formulating the 15th Five-Year Plan for National Economic and Social Development" (hereinafter referred to as the "Suggestions") was passed in October 2025, systematically outlining the blueprint for the country's development over the next five years.

In the process of comprehensively promoting Chinese-style modernization, the construction of "Digital China" has been given an important strategic position, with key tasks clearly proposed such as **"Deepening the construction of Digital China", "Improving the basic system for data elements", and "Building an open, shared, and secure national integrated data market".**

Against this backdrop, the development and utilization of digital assets are ushering in unprecedented policy opportunities and development space.

1. Marketization of data elements: The "Suggestions" clearly propose to "improve the basic system for data elements" and emphasize the "construction of a nationally integrated data market that is open, shared, and secure." This means that in the next five years, our country will accelerate the marketization, legalization, and standardization process of data elements, laying the institutional foundation for the development and utilization of digital assets.

The confirmation and circulation mechanism of data resources will be gradually improved. The "Suggestions" propose to "deepen the development and utilization of data resources" and emphasize the "improvement of property rights protection." In the future, the country will promote the establishment of systems for defining data property rights, data classification and grading, and data trading rules, facilitating the transformation of data resources from a "dormant" state into tradable and value-added digital assets. Enterprises should focus on the construction of data asset registration, evaluation, and trading platforms, and actively participate in pilot programs for the data factor market.

The integration and development of public data and social data is ushering in opportunities. The "Suggestions" propose to "promote the integration and sharing of government data, public data, and social data." In fields such as healthcare, transportation, environmental protection, and urban governance, the government will promote data openness and sharing, providing enterprises with a rich source of digital assets. Enterprises with data cleaning, modeling, and analysis capabilities will gain a competitive edge in data value-added services. Data security and privacy protection have become prerequisites for development.

The "Suggestions" emphasize the need to "strengthen the national security capability construction in emerging fields such as networks, data, and artificial intelligence." In the process of data development and utilization, compliance and security will become the thresholds for enterprises to participate in market competition. Technologies such as privacy computing, blockchain, and data de-sensitization will play a key role in the process of data assetization.

2. Smart Contracts and Blockchain: Promoting the Automation and Trustworthiness of Digital Assets Although the "Recommendations" do not directly mention "blockchain" or "smart contracts", they provide policy space for the application of smart contracts in expressions such as "accelerating the innovation of AI and other digital intelligence technologies" and "improving regulation". **Smart contracts will be implemented first in the fields of government affairs and finance.

**In the fields of government services, supply chain finance, and intellectual property protection, smart contracts can achieve automation, transparency, and immutability of business processes. For example, in scenarios such as government procurement, land registration, and copyright transactions, smart contracts can effectively improve efficiency and reduce the risk of disputes. Blockchain + digital identity builds a trustworthy digital ecosystem.

The "Recommendations" propose to "promote the construction of a rule of law society" and "create a good environment for the whole society to respect the rule of law, abide by the rules, honor contracts, and uphold justice." The combination of blockchain technology and digital identity can establish a credible digital identity system for individuals and enterprises, supporting the registration, trading, and protection of digital assets. **Regulatory technology (RegTech) and compliance smart contracts will emerge.** With the development of the digital asset market, regulatory agencies will continuously raise their requirements for anti-money laundering, anti-fraud, data compliance, and other aspects. Smart contract systems with automatic compliance checking capabilities will become essential for financial institutions and platform enterprises.

3. Empowerment of Digital Asset Applications: From Finance to Reality, from Consumption to Governance. The "Recommendations" clearly propose to "fully implement the 'Artificial Intelligence +' action" and "lead the reform of scientific research paradigms with artificial intelligence," while emphasizing "promoting the deep integration of the real economy and the digital economy." Digital assets, as a key element of the digital economy, will play an empowering role in multiple fields. The digitization of financial assets is accelerating.

The "Suggestions" propose to "steadily develop the digital renminbi" and "actively develop direct financing such as equity and bonds." In the future, the digital issuance, registration, and trading of traditional financial assets like stocks, bonds, and notes will gradually become widespread. The digital renminbi combined with smart contracts can support the application of programmable money in scenarios such as targeted payments and supply chain finance. Digitalization of cultural assets and intellectual property.

The "Suggestions" propose to "accelerate the development of the cultural industry" and "promote the systematic protection of cultural heritage." Digital collectibles (NFTs), digital copyrights, and digital cultural and creative products will welcome development opportunities. Cultural institutions and content creators can leverage blockchain technology to achieve the assetization and copyright protection of digital content. Carbon assets and green finance digitalization.

The "Recommendations" emphasize the need to "accelerate the construction of a new energy system" and "actively and steadily promote and achieve carbon peaking." The national carbon emissions trading market will expand its coverage, and the registration, trading, and verification of carbon assets require support from digital platforms. Blockchain technology can enhance the transparency and credibility of carbon data, aiding the development of green finance. Digitalization of urban governance and public services.

The "Suggestions" propose to "promote the construction of urban dual-use public infrastructure" and "build an innovative, livable, beautiful, resilient, civilized, and smart modern city for the people." Digital assets in cities, such as digital identity, digital property, and digital transportation, will play an important role in the construction of smart cities.

4. Building Technical Infrastructure: The underlying capabilities supporting the development of digital assets. The "Suggestions" clearly propose in the section "Building a Modern Infrastructure System" to "appropriately advance the construction of new infrastructure" and emphasize the "promotion of the construction and intensive and efficient utilization of information and communication networks, a nationwide integrated computing power network, major scientific and technological infrastructure, etc." The computing power network and cloud computing facilities are the "soil" for digital assets.

The construction of a national integrated computing power network will provide efficient and low-cost infrastructure for the storage, computation, and trading of digital assets. Enterprises should pay attention to the layout of national computing power hub nodes and actively participate in major projects such as East Data West Computing and edge computing. Artificial intelligence and big data platforms are the "engines" of digital assets.

The "Suggestions" propose to "accelerate the innovation of digital intelligence technologies such as artificial intelligence." The advancements in AI technology in areas such as data labeling, content generation, and risk identification will promote the intelligent development and management of digital assets. Blockchain and distributed ledger technology are the "framework" of digital assets. Although not directly named, the goals of "improving the basic system of data elements" and "building an open, shared, and secure national integrated data market" cannot be separated from the support of distributed ledger technology.

Consortium chains, cross-chain technology, zero-knowledge proofs, and others will play a key role in data sharing and asset circulation.

5. Challenges and Suggestions: How to Seize Digital Asset Opportunities during the "14th Five-Year Plan" Period? Despite significant policy dividends, the development of digital assets still faces multiple challenges such as technological maturity, legal regulations, and market acceptance. Enterprises should focus on the following areas for layout: **Strengthen technological research and development and standard construction.

**Actively participate in the formulation of national and industry standards, promoting the integrated innovation of technologies such as blockchain, AI, and privacy computing.** Focus on compliance and risk prevention. **Closely monitor the dynamics of data security laws, cybersecurity laws, and digital asset regulatory policies, and establish a compliance management system.

**Explore cross-border cooperation and ecological co-construction.** Collaborate with governments, financial institutions, technology companies, and research institutions to jointly promote the implementation of digital assets in specific scenarios. **Cultivate professional talent in digital assets.** Strengthen the talent reserve in areas such as blockchain, data science, smart contracts, and compliance risk control.

The "13th Five-Year Plan" period is a key stage for our country to basically achieve socialist modernization. The development and utilization of digital assets will become an important force in promoting high-quality economic development, enhancing national governance capabilities, and advancing social progress. Under the guidance of the "Recommendations", there will be systematic breakthroughs in areas such as the marketization of data elements, the application of smart contracts, the empowerment of the real economy by digital assets, and the construction of new digital infrastructure.

Only by grasping the direction of policies, consolidating technical capabilities, and adhering to compliance bottom lines can we seize opportunities in the new wave of digital assets and contribute digital power to Chinese-style modernization.