China has focused on tackling core underlying technologies in the field of blockchain, making breakthroughs that have led to the creation of a trusted digital infrastructure with a "Chinese core," said Dong Jin, a deputy to the 14th National People's Congress and director of the Beijing Academy of Blockchain and Edge Computing (BAEC), on Thursday.

"Blockchain is one of the most critical digital infrastructures in the development of the digital economy," Dong said when meeting the press and taking questions at the Deputies' Corridor.

China has built a national-level homegrown blockchain network that functions as a "trusted digital Great Wall," powered by the world's first 96-core accelerator chip designed specifically for blockchain to boost performance by up to 50 times, according to Dong.

Before 2019, due to a lack of core technologies, the majority of China's blockchain applications were built on foreign technologies. That year, BAEC was established to focus on fundamental research in frontier digital technologies, particularly blockchain.

Dong said BAEC has since developed the world's first software-hardware integrated blockchain operating system. Its 3 million lines of code have been made open-source and are available for free public use, greatly expanding the technology's social impact.

The team also developed the world's first 96-core accelerator chip designed specifically for blockchain, which improves performance by up to 50 times and addresses computing bottlenecks in large-scale networks.

The domestically developed blockchain system is now used by 16 central government departments and 27 centrally administered state-owned enterprises, according to Dong.

In the tax sector, hundreds of millions of digital invoices are now processed annually on China's own blockchain network, ensuring traceability and authenticity.

In cross-border trade, the system connects critical data across industries and regions, dramatically improving customs clearance efficiency. More than 300,000 enterprises have joined the network, with the value of cross-border trade facilitated by the blockchain reaching one trillion yuan (around $138 billion).

In global payments, the technology has been integrated with the central bank's digital renminbi to create a new channel for cross-border transactions, Dong said.