Research on Blockchain Boosting the Integrated Development of the Digital Economy and Real Economy

Research on Blockchain Boosting the Integrated Development of the Digital Economy and Real Economy

Authors:  Fnu Oudom

Abstract

The digital transformation of the real economy has become the core battlefield of a new round of global digital competition. Restricted by institutional dilemmas including lack of cross-subject trust, ambiguous confirmation of data assets, high industrial chain coordination costs and rigid income distribution in value chains, traditional digital transformation cannot realize the capitalization of data factors through the information Internet, leading to a long-standing disconnect between digital technologies and the real economy. Supported by distributed ledgers, asymmetric encryption systems, consensus mechanisms and executable smart contracts, blockchain constructs a multi-party recognized distributed trust infrastructure based on machine credibility, shifting the Internet from one-way information transmission to all-domain value interconnection. It provides an underlying systematic technical solution to break institutional bottlenecks and trust barriers hindering the deep integration of the digital economy and real economy.

At present, major economies across the globe have rolled out strategic layouts for the blockchain industry. The competition among major powers has evolved from a single R&D race into comprehensive games covering industrial application and cross-border digital governance rules. European and American countries focus on the digitalization of industrial supply chains, full-lifecycle circulation of bulk commodity electronic warehouse receipts and cross-border mutual recognition of trade documents, concentrating resources to seize the dominant power over global digital trade standards. Emerging foreign trade economies build cross-border commodity traceability systems based on blockchain to continuously cut comprehensive costs of trust verification and document circulation in transnational business. Amid the wave of digital restructuring of global value chains, blockchain has become a core strategic tool for reshaping international industrial division of labor and competing for discourse power in the digital economy.

Nevertheless, the industrial application of blockchain in China is generally trapped in superficial development predicaments. Most deployed projects are confined to lightweight basic scenarios such as electronic evidence storage and commodity anti-counterfeiting, failing to be deeply embedded in high-value core business links including circulation of goods rights across industrial chains and multi-level credit penetration and automatic profit sharing, so the technical value cannot be fully unleashed. An in-depth analysis of the root causes reveals that the barriers to integrated development in China are superimposed across multiple layers. Technically, domestic underlying architectures and codes are highly dependent on overseas sources, the blockchain "impossible triangle" cannot be solved in a layered and scenario-specific manner, the absence of unified national cross-chain standards creates numerous industrial value silos across industries and regions, and the deployment and transformation costs of privacy-preserving technologies remain prohibitively high. Industrially, most alliance chains lack multi-party governance and power allocation mechanisms; enterprises along industrial chains show a sharp divide in digital maturity, and there is a lack of automatic collection channels for offline source data, resulting in widespread idle chains that are easy to build yet hard to operate or implement. Institutionally, there is no complete judicial confirmation framework for the legal validity of on-chain electronic certificates, industrial digital assets and smart contracts. Domestic data compliance clauses inherently conflict with the operation mode of distributed ledgers. In addition, China’s blockchain electronic trade documents fail to align with international digital trade agreements such as DEPA and RCEP, and mechanisms for cross-border certificate mutual recognition and joint supervision lag far behind market demands. Commercially, industrial blockchain projects rely heavily on special fiscal subsidies without sustainable market-oriented incentive mechanisms. Speculative capital crowds out financing for real-economy digital transformation, while there is an acute shortage of interdisciplinary international talents proficient in blockchain technology, real-industry operation, cross-border digital governance and data compliance risk control.

Based on the new development pattern of domestic and international dual circulation, this paper breaks away from the narrow perspective of research confined to domestic technical applications, and embeds the integrated development of blockchain into the overall process of digital restructuring of global value chains. It constructs a four-dimensional integrated analytical framework covering technical infrastructure, industrial chain coordination, value chain distribution and cross-border institutional coordination. Different from existing literature that merely focuses on evidence storage cases and financial risk supervision, this paper thoroughly analyzes the internal operating logic of blockchain in reconstructing industrial credit systems and realizing data asset confirmation and reshaping the profit distribution pattern of full industrial chains, and clearly defines the governance boundary between credible business certificates of the real economy and speculative virtual digital assets. Domestically, a layered and classified chain-building framework is constructed, and multi-party benefit-sharing and risk-sharing mechanisms for alliance chains are improved. Internationally, relying on regulatory sandboxes in pilot free trade zones, standardized models for cross-border document mutual recognition on chains are explored, forming a two-tier collaborative institutional system featuring hierarchical rule-of-law governance domestically and proactive participation in global digital rule formulation internationally. This study systematically proposes a complete set of implementable and scalable implementation paths including layered technology upgrading, synchronous full-industry digital transformation, penetrating dynamic on-chain supervision, lightweight sustainable market-oriented operation and cultivation of international interdisciplinary talents. It drives blockchain to break free from the trap of conceptual hype and superficial applications and take deep root in four core real-economy tracks: advanced manufacturing supply chains, modern agricultural clusters, green low-carbon industries and cross-border paperless trade. Balancing industrial implementation efficiency and the construction of discourse power in international digital governance, this research can promote the compliant, secure and efficient circulation of data factors across all domains, remove barriers to coordinated development of industrial chains, supply chains and value chains, and provide solid theoretical references and systematic practical paths for empowering the transformation and upgrading of the real economy, fostering new quality productive forces and enhancing China’s comprehensive competitiveness in the global digital industry.

Keywords: blockchain; digital economy; integration with real economy; industrial chain coordination; data factors; cross-border digital governance; restructuring of global value chains

Full Text

I. Introduction

(1) Research Background

1. Domestic Realistic Background

After decades of rapid development, China’s digital economy has bid farewell to the era of traffic dividends in consumer Internet and fully entered a critical period of in-depth transformation of industrial Internet. The room for growth of shallow digital scenarios such as e-commerce platforms and online life services targeting end consumers has gradually peaked. Core real-economy industries including advanced manufacturing, modern agriculture and bulk physical commerce have seen comprehensive upgrades in digital demands, shifting from basic online information registration to high-level digital scenarios such as full-chain coordination, multi-level supply chain financing and asset-based circulation of data factors.

For a long time, cross-enterprise collaboration within domestic industrial chains has relied heavily on centralized platforms and offline third-party intermediaries for credit endorsement and transaction verification. Industrial pain points such as multi-stage credit sales, warehouse receipt financing, cross-enterprise data sharing and unbalanced profit distribution along value chains have long remained unsolved. The fundamental underlying cause lies in the lack of low-cost, highly credible and traceable cross-subject trust infrastructure in China’s industrial system. As the fifth major production factor, data has long suffered from ambiguous ownership, incomplete circulation records and difficulty in value quantification and pricing, making it impossible to realize factor capitalization. Consequently, digital technologies can only barely touch the surface of real-economy transformation, and returns on digital transformation investment fail to match industrial gains.

As the core underlying infrastructure of the value Internet and distributed trust system, blockchain theoretically possesses the capability to reconstruct credit order across industrial chains. However, its domestic industrial implementation shows prominent structural imbalance: numerous government-supported and self-built enterprise chains converge on lightweight scenarios such as file hash storage and product traceability anti-counterfeiting, only realizing post-transaction and post-document recording instead of intervening in value-added core links including goods right delivery and automatic multi-stage profit sharing and progressive transmission of upstream and downstream credit. The survival of industrial blockchain projects is highly dependent on special local policy subsidies. Once the support cycle ends and fiscal funds are withdrawn, projects will rapidly stall and be abandoned, creating an obvious disconnect between blockchain technological innovation and real industrial development. The whole industry falls into an involution predicament characterized by high conceptual publicity yet low industrial implementation efficiency and a large number of ongoing projects with few sustainably operational ones, with massive digital investment failing to translate into growth momentum for the real economy.

2. Background of International Competition

The logic of global digital economic competition has undergone fundamental changes. Competition has shifted from a single track of underlying technology R&D to comprehensive institutional games over the formulation of digital infrastructure standards, cross-border trade governance rules and the construction of trust systems for global industrial chains. Blockchain is no longer merely a computer underlying technology, but a core strategic tool for major powers to restructure trust order in global industrial chains and compete for the dominant power of digital trade rules and reshape distribution patterns of global value chains.

At the international level, all major economies have issued medium- and long-term industrial strategies for blockchain. The EU coordinates the construction of a unified blockchain digital identity system and cross-industry supply chain traceability projects, building a standardized regional alliance chain network and unifying the legal effect of commercial certificates on chains within the region. Leading bulk commodity trading platforms and port trade institutions in the United States fully implement full-process uploading of electronic warehouse receipts, firmly controlling technical standards and judicial recognition rules for global digital goods right certificates. ASEAN, the Middle East and other resource-exporting economies develop targeted blockchain platforms for cross-border trade of agricultural products and energy commodities to simplify multi-country customs cross-verification procedures and drastically cut comprehensive costs of trust verification and document circulation for transnational trade. Meanwhile, multilateral economic and trade agreements such as DEPA and RCEP keep adding special clauses on mutual recognition of digital documents and orderly cross-border data flow, making cross-border mutual recognition of blockchain electronic documents a core topic in global digital trade negotiations.

If China restricts itself to closed and shallow domestic blockchain scenarios without taking the initiative to align with internationally accepted digital trade rules and coordinate the layout of cross-border alliance chain interconnection systems, it will miss the critical window for restructuring global digital governance systems and fall into a passive position lacking discourse power over standards amid the digital transformation of global value chains. Based on the new dual-circulation development pattern, China’s blockchain industrial development must coordinate two core objectives: internally empower the modernization and upgrading of domestic full industrial chains and unlock the value of data factors; externally take the initiative to participate in the formulation of global digital rules and consolidate competitive advantages in digital trade, achieving coordinated internal and external development.

(2) Review of Domestic and Foreign Literature

1. Review of Foreign Research

Academic and industrial research on blockchain overseas has long divided into two clear threads. The first focuses on decentralized financial innovation on public chains, conducting theoretical and model design for decentralized asset issuance and free cross-border circulation of digital assets. The second delves into market-oriented operation of industrial alliance chains, centering on digitalization of supply chain goods rights, paperless international trade document systems and long-term incentive allocation mechanisms for network nodes. Scholars from mature European and American industrial economies generally prioritize the construction of market-based benefit distribution models and attach great importance to the design of supporting systems for judicial recognition and cross-border mutual recognition of commercial certificates on chains. Their research findings fit the fully digital industrial chains and sound informatization foundation of small and medium-sized enterprises in developed countries.

Nevertheless, the existing overseas research system has inherent limitations. Most theoretical models and implementation plans are premised on fully digital industrial chains and sound informatization of SMEs in developed economies. There is a lack of localized adaptation schemes suited to developing countries featuring weak digital foundations of SMEs, uneven digital maturity across industrial chains and unbalanced regional industrial development. Research on practical industrial pain points such as interest conflicts between upstream and downstream enterprises and penetration of core corporate credit to micro and small entities as well as multi-jurisdictional cross-border supervision coordination is insufficient and cannot be directly adapted to China’s real-economy transformation demands.

2. Core Shortcomings of Domestic Research

Domestic literature on blockchain is highly confined to three single research categories. First, optimization of pure technologies including iteration of consensus algorithms, improvement of TPS throughput and development of cross-chain communication protocols. Second, research on financial risk prevention and regulatory policies targeting virtual currencies and decentralized finance chaos. Third, case analysis of lightweight scenarios such as agricultural product traceability and judicial electronic evidence storage. The overall domestic research system has four prominent deficiencies:First, a closed research perspective artificially separates domestic internal-cycle industrial applications from external-cycle cross-border digital trade layout, lacking a holistic dual-circulation vision, while research on international cross-border blockchain governance and standard alignment is generally weak.Second, shallow research depth: most literature simply defines blockchain as an immutable distributed database and only analyzes its evidence storage function, rarely exploring the underlying institutional value of blockchain in reconstructing industrial credit order and reshaping profit distribution across full value chains, ignoring its core positioning as an institutional infrastructure.Third, fragmented countermeasures: existing studies only propose separate technical transformation plans or single regulatory policies, failing to systematically resolve the universal industry-wide chronic problem of alliance chains being built yet unused and suffering inefficient investment.Fourth, vague governance boundaries between virtual and real assets: it is difficult to distinguish credible electronic business certificates of the real economy from speculative virtual digital financial assets, and supporting governance measures tend to swing between two extremes — either loosening regulation spawning financial chaos or tightening rules inhibiting digital innovation of the real economy.

(3) Three Core Innovations of This Paper

1. Innovation in Research Perspective: Global Vision Centered on Dual Circulation

Breaking the narrow boundary of domestic single-industry technical research, this paper analyzes the integration of blockchain and the real economy against the macro backdrop of digital restructuring of global value chains, coordinating two dimensions: modernization and upgrading of domestic industrial chains and construction of cross-border digital trade rule systems. It takes into account both practical industrial implementation and cultivation of discourse power in international digital governance, overcoming the localized and closed limitations of existing research and endowing the paper with a complete international academic vision and global industrial thinking.

2. Innovation in Theoretical Mechanism: In-depth Institutional Analysis of Three-Chain Coordination

Abandoning the research paradigm limited to the shallow data storage function, this paper constructs a complete four-dimensional theoretical logic of "trust confirmation — compliant data circulation — full credit penetration — automatic value distribution". It redefines blockchain as an infrastructure reshaping industrial benefit allocation, thoroughly unpacks the complete realization path of coordination among industrial chains, supply chains and value chains, and analyzes the underlying logic of blockchain transforming the real economy from the perspective of institutional economics, boasting far greater theoretical depth than ordinary applied case papers.

3. Innovation in Governance Framework: Integrated Dual-Layer Domestic and International Institutional System

This paper originally constructs a dual integrated institutional system: hierarchical rule-of-law governance domestically and cross-border sandbox coordinated governance internationally. Domestically, market-oriented long-term incentive mechanisms for alliance chains are designed to fundamentally eliminate reliance of industrial projects on fiscal subsidies. Internationally, standardized systems for cross-border mutual recognition of documents on chains are piloted in free trade zones to proactively align with DEPA multilateral digital trade rules and participate in global standard formulation. Clear hierarchical regulatory red lines are drawn to distinguish real-industry business certificates from speculative virtual financial assets, avoiding idle and inefficient alliance chains while firmly guarding against financial risks from cross-border capital flows and virtual asset speculation. The supporting countermeasures feature high originality, systematicness and operability.

(4) Research Framework

Part One: Introduction. It elaborates the research background, sorts out deficiencies in domestic and foreign literature, clarifies three core innovations and establishes the overall logical framework of the paper.Part Two: It analyzes the underlying operating mechanism of blockchain enabling integrated development of the digital and real economy, defines three-dimensional realization paths of integration and divides five core application scenarios for the real economy.Part Three: Drawing on global industrial implementation experience, it systematically dissects deep-seated development contradictions across four dimensions: technology, industry, institution and commerce.Part Four: A four-dimensional coordinated optimization system is established, with systematic implementation paths designed across five modules: upgrading technical infrastructure, reconstructing industrial chain coordination, dual-layer domestic and international rule-of-law governance, sustainable market-oriented operation and alignment with international rules for opening-up.Part Five: Conclusions and research prospects. It summarizes core findings and proposes future research directions covering cross-border mutual recognition of documents, long-term incentive models for alliance chains and digital cross-border circulation of bulk commodities.

II. Internal Mechanisms and Application Scenarios of Blockchain Enabling Integration Between Digital and Real Economy

(1) Core Operating Logic for Blockchain to Break Integration Bottlenecks

The traditional information Internet can only transmit unidirectional information without inherent guarantees of authenticity and immutability, nor the capacity for automatic asset ownership delivery and profit allocation. It cannot resolve core pain points of the real economy including cross-subject trust, data confirmation and contract performance supervision. Supported by four underlying technical mechanisms, blockchain completes three fundamental institutional reforms and comprehensively removes trust, property right and performance barriers hindering integration.

Distributed Consensus Mechanism: Multiple independent market entities along industrial chains maintain ledgers simultaneously without credit guarantees from centralized platforms or third-party intermediaries, drastically cutting comprehensive costs of credit investigation, transaction guarantee, reconciliation and liquidation, and building a multi-party recognized intermediary-free distributed trust system that reduces cross-enterprise collaboration costs at the source.

Asymmetric Encryption + Distributed Ledger Architecture: Digital targets including industrial data assets, electronic warehouse receipts, intellectual property rights and accounts receivable are confirmed on chains, clearly dividing ownership, usage rights and income rights to thoroughly resolve the long-standing core problem of ambiguous property rights restricting data circulation.

Code-based Automatic Performance of Smart Contracts: Standardized commercial contracts, multi-stage profit sharing, pledge and risk allocation clauses are converted into executable codes that automatically complete payment settlement, multi-stage profit distribution and goods right transfer once preset conditions are met, eliminating intentional breach of contract and manual calculation errors while drastically lowering costs of commercial disputes and arbitration.

Full-chain Immutable Recording Mechanism: All business processes are synchronously stored and traceable across nodes, providing complete, credible and tamper-proof electronic evidence for industrial supervision, financial credit granting and cross-border customs inspection, enabling transparent governance of full industrial chains.

(2) Three-Dimensional Integration Mechanisms (Core Theoretical Connotation)

1. Industrial Chain Integration: Downward Penetration of Leading Enterprise Credit

Leveraging blockchain’s distributed credit transmission capacity, high-quality commercial credit of core leading enterprises can be delivered layer by layer to downstream SMEs through standardized on-chain accounts receivable and multi-stage creditor’s rights certificates. Without fixed asset collateral, micro and small real enterprises can apply for low-cost supply chain financing relying on judicially valid credible certificates on chains, systematically resolving long-standing financing bottlenecks for SMEs and reinforcing collaborative relationships between upstream and downstream participants.

2. Data Factor Integration: Compliant, Secure and Orderly Full-Domain Circulation of Industrial Data

Adopting the integrated model of privacy computing, data desensitization and separation of certificates and raw data, the governance rule of "raw data remains in local servers while encrypted verification certificates circulate across networks" is implemented. Core operational, production and sensitive customer data of enterprises are encrypted and stored locally, with only desensitized verification abstracts and ownership certificates uploaded to chains. On the premise of strictly complying with the Data Security Law and Personal Information Protection Law, cross-enterprise, cross-industry and cross-regional data silos are broken to realize credible circulation of industrial data while balancing data security protection and asset-based development of data factors.

3. Value Chain Integration: Balanced Profit Allocation Across Full Industrial Chains

Multi-stage profit sharing, risk sharing and cost allocation clauses are solidified in advance via smart contracts for automatic execution, completely changing the unbalanced pattern where core manufacturers capture excess profits while upstream and downstream SMEs face squeezed profit margins. It equalizes income distribution among raw material suppliers, midstream manufacturers and downstream distributors, reducing industrial cooperation conflicts from the root of benefit allocation and stabilizing long-term coordinated development of industrial clusters.

(3) Full-Track Application Scenarios Covering Domestic Real Industries and Cross-Border International Businesses

Advanced Manufacturing Track: Full-process traceability of industrial orders, digital circulation of goods rights across multi-level supply chains, unified registration of industrial equipment data assets, full-chain storage of product quality data and credible sharing of cross-factory collaborative production data.

Bulk Commodity Trade Track: Digital pledge of electronic warehouse receipts, unified storage of multimodal logistics documents on chains, full circulation of credible goods right certificates for spot trading and verification of cross-border bulk commodity deliveries.

Modern Agricultural Cluster Track: Origin traceability certification of agricultural products, automatic performance of order agriculture via smart contracts, supply chain finance for agricultural SMEs and targeted distribution of agricultural subsidies.

Green Low-Carbon Real Economy Track: Full-recorded carbon footprints of enterprises, registration and compliant circulation of carbon assets, automatic profit allocation for green projects and digital traceability for dual-carbon assessment.

Core Cross-Border Digital Trade Track: Storage and cross-border mutual recognition of import and export customs documents, certificates of origin, ocean bills of lading and cross-border settlement vouchers, building a full-process paperless cross-border trade system aligned with international digital trade multilateral rules.

III. Global Industrial Experience and Multi-Layered Practical Dilemmas of China’s Integrated Development

(1) Summary of Global Industrial Application Experience of Blockchain

Industrial blockchain development in mature European and American industrial countries follows a unified clear path. Alliance chains are taken as core implementation carriers with a strict distinction between credible real-trade electronic certificates and speculative encrypted virtual assets, consistently anchoring real-economy industrial scenarios. Projects rely on market-based service fees and value-added revenues for long-term operation of blockchain networks without over-reliance on fiscal subsidies. Great importance is attached to supporting laws for domestic judicial recognition and cross-border mutual recognition of commercial certificates on chains, and global standardization of trade documents is continuously promoted. Foreign trade economies represented by ASEAN and Middle Eastern resource exporters focus on trade cost reduction, adopting blockchain as a digital tool to simplify multi-country customs inspection and eliminate disputes over paper documents, steadily advancing regional paperless trade integration.

A universal law can be summarized from global implementation practice: blockchain can only form self-sustaining industrial ecosystems when deeply rooted in high-value businesses such as goods right circulation, multi-level credit transmission and automatic value allocation. Restricting application merely to file storage and product anti-counterfeiting will fail to generate industrial added value and eventually lead to idle and abandoned projects.

(2) Four Deep-Seated Dilemmas of Blockchain Enabling China’s Real Economy Integration

Dilemma 1: Inadaptable Underlying Architecture and Weak Independent Control Resulting in Mass Industrial Value Silos

First, underlying codes and core algorithms of blockchain are highly dependent on overseas open-source communities, with slow R&D progress of domestically controlled underlying chains, creating hidden technical security risks for China’s digital industrial infrastructure and insufficient autonomy of core technologies.Second, the blockchain "impossible triangle" performance contradiction cannot be resolved in a layered, scenario-specific manner. Blind pursuit of full-network decentralization drastically reduces transaction speed, failing to meet high-concurrency business demands of manufacturing and bulk commodity trading. Reducing node quantities to boost performance turns alliance chains into traditional centralized databases, stripping away the core value of distributed trust.Third, there is no unified national cross-chain communication protocol. Government and industrial alliance chains across provinces and cities adopt incompatible underlying ledger protocols and data formats, making digital assets and credible certificates unexchangeable across industries and regions and creating isolated value silos that block full-domain circulation of data factors.Fourth, deployment and operation costs of privacy-preserving technologies such as zero-knowledge proof and homomorphic encryption remain prohibitively high for SMEs, creating long-standing conflicts between industrial data confidentiality and cross-entity public verification.

Dilemma 2: Superficial Industrial Applications and Failed Multi-Party Coordination of Alliance Chains with Polarized Digital Maturity Across Chains

First, over 70% of domestic industrial projects only upload file hashes for storage without extending to high-value links including goods right delivery and multi-stage profit sharing, failing to translate blockchain’s technical advantages into real industrial economic benefits and resulting massive inefficient fiscal investment.Second, industrial alliance chains lack standardized multi-party governance agreements. Upon chain construction, rules for data access, liability for data fraud and allocation of operational costs and profits are not agreed in advance. Large enterprises hesitate to disclose core commercial data while SMEs fear data leakage and refuse to participate, leaving most alliance chains formally launched yet operationally idle without regular business flows.Third, digital maturity along industrial chains is sharply polarized. Leading enterprises achieve full online operation while upstream and downstream merchants still use paper documents and manual reconciliation, making unified automatic uploading of chain-wide data impossible.Fourth, offline source data lacks automatic collection via IoT and RFID hardware. Manual entry of order, warehouse and logistics information easily leads to artificial data tampering and false information permanently recorded on chains, undermining the credibility of full industrial chains.

Dilemma 3: Unbalanced Domestic and Institutional Supply — Weak Domestic Judicial Protection and Lagging Alignment with Cross-Border Rules

Domestic legal deficiencies: There is no complete judicial interpretation defining the property rights validity of on-chain electronic warehouse receipts, creditor’s rights certificates and smart contracts. Technical confirmation cannot be converted into legally recognized property rights, and on-chain digital assets cannot be mortgaged, transferred or liquidated, leaving data asset confirmation confined to technical layers. Meanwhile, the multi-replica storage mode of distributed ledgers inherently conflicts with existing centralized data supervision and data retention rules.Opening-up deficiencies: China’s industrial blockchain electronic document standards have not aligned with international multilateral agreements DEPA and RCEP. Domestic documents on chains cannot be recognized by overseas customs, traders and financial institutions. Cross-border blockchain regulatory sandboxes in pilot free trade zones cover limited scope with slow progress in supporting systems for cross-border data uploading and certificate mutual recognition, weakening China’s discourse power in multilateral negotiations on global digital trade rules.

Dilemma 4 Unsustainable Business Models, Capital Shifting to Virtual Speculation and Severe Shortage of International Interdisciplinary Talents

First, self-built alliance chains require large one-time upfront investment in hardware, software and operation. Lacking lightweight pay-as-you-go market service models, most projects rely entirely on fiscal subsidies and stall once policy support is withdrawn.Second, public opinion long conflates blockchain with virtual currency speculation. A large volume of venture capital flows to virtual asset trading while industrial projects targeting manufacturing, agriculture and cross-border trade face financing difficulties.Third, the industrial talent structure is severely unbalanced. There is an acute shortage of cross-disciplinary talents mastering distributed technology, industrial operation, cross-border trade and data compliance. Technical teams lack industrial knowledge while industrial practitioners cannot comprehend distributed ledger governance, leading repeated design revisions and delayed project launch.

IV Four-Dimensional Coordinated Optimization Paths for Blockchain to Deeply Integrate Digital and Real Economy

Dimension One: Build Layered Autonomous Technical Infrastructure Balancing Security, Efficiency and Cross-Chain Interoperability

Layered Differentiated Chain Layout: Open alliance chains are promoted for real-economy scenarios with moderately streamlined consensus nodes to support high-concurrency manufacturing and commodity transactions. Private chains are deployed for internal confidential corporate operations. Public chains are restricted to open-source technical research, banning token issuance and financial speculation to the public.

Independent Core Technology R&D: Increase national investment in domestic open-source blockchain underlying platforms to reduce reliance on overseas codes. Leverage the Blockchain Service Network (BSN) to unify national cross-chain interfaces and ledger formats, breaking data barriers across industries and eliminating value silos.

Lightweight Technical Transformation: Package privacy computing tools into standardized cloud services to cut transformation costs for SMEs. Connect IoT sensors and RFID terminals directly to blockchains for automatic collection of logistics, warehousing and production data, eradicating data falsification caused by manual input.

Dimension Two: Restructure Full Industrial Chain Coordination Mechanisms to Shift Blockchain From Evidence Storage to Value Chain Restructuring

Phase Out Shallow Low-Value Projects: Adjust fiscal digital industry funding priorities to withdraw support from pure hash storage projects and channel resources into high-value scenarios of supply chain financing, digital goods right circulation and automatic profit sharing, driving industrial upgrading via policy guidance.

Predefine Multi-Party Governance Rules for Alliance Chains: Sign legally valid multi-party cooperation agreements prior to chain construction to establish three core systems: hierarchical data access rules, liability clauses for data fraud, and shared schemes for operational costs and chain revenues, motivating sustained participation through tangible market returns to resolve idle alliance chains.

Gradually Bridge Digital Gaps: Led by leading enterprises, lightweight SaaS tools are provided free of charge to upstream and downstream SMEs for full-chain electronic transformation before phased access to alliance nodes, eliminating digital disconnection along industrial chains.

Dimension Three: Construct Dual-Layer Domestic and International Rule-of-Law System — Secure Domestic Property Rights and Build Cross-Border Rule Discourse Power

1. Improve Domestic Judicial Recognition and Penetrative On-Chain Supervision

Promote the Supreme People’s Court to issue special judicial interpretations clarifying that on-chain documents verified by judicial storage platforms hold full legal validity, compliant smart contracts equal written commercial contracts, and on-chain warehouse receipts and creditor certificates can be used as collateral for property rights. Regulatory authorities access alliance chains as read-only nodes adopting the dual mechanism of encrypted on-chain transactions and real-name background filing to balance corporate privacy and financial/data risk control. Special ledger retention rules shall be formulated to comply with the Data Security Law and Personal Information Protection Law.

2. Align With International Digital Trade Rules and Enhance Global Discourse Power

Expand cross-border blockchain sandboxes in Hainan, Shanghai, Guangdong and other free trade zones to pilot multi-country mutual recognition of cross-border orders, certificates of origin and ocean bills of lading on chains. Align China’s electronic document standards with DEPA and RCEP clauses to develop a paperless cross-border trade system tailored to domestic foreign trade. Strictly separate real-industry certificates and speculative virtual assets to guard against risks of disorderly cross-border capital flows and steadily strengthen China’s voice in global digital trade rulemaking.

Dimension Four: Foster Sustainable Commercial Closed Loops and Cultivate International Interdisciplinary Talents

1. Lightweight Transformation of Business Models

Rely on national public blockchain infrastructure to launch cloud-based pay-as-you-go services, converting one-time heavy investment into small annual service fees and lowering access thresholds for SMEs. Build a three-tier profit chain: basic evidence storage and verification to cover operation costs; supply chain credit evaluation and financing matching for value-added financial service fees; compliant desensitized industrial data products to unlock long-term value of data factors, gradually eliminating dependence on fiscal subsidies for self-sustaining industrial operation.

2. Guide Industrial Capital to Shift From Virtual Speculation to Real Economy

Industry associations clarify clear boundaries between industrial blockchain projects and virtual currency speculation to reverse biased market perceptions. Guide national industrial funds and venture capital to invest in manufacturing, agriculture and cross-border digital trade projects, while financial institutions extend credit only to real-economy blockchain projects to cut capital supply for speculative businesses.

3. Long-Term Cultivation of International Compound Talents

Universities launch interdisciplinary majors integrating blockchain technology, global supply chain management, cross-border trade rules and data compliance to cultivate talents with technical, industrial and global governance capabilities. Regular training sessions for enterprise managers correct misconceptions equating blockchain with token speculation and lay a solid talent foundation for long-term high-quality industrial development.

V. Conclusions and Research Prospects

(1) Core Conclusions

The disconnect between digital technology and the real economy does not stem from insufficient hardware performance, but from institutional barriers including lack of cross-enterprise trust mechanisms, ambiguous ownership of data factors and rigid profit allocation along value chains. Blockchain is far more than computer information technology; it is an institutional digital infrastructure capable of systematically reconstructing industrial credit systems and reshaping benefit distribution across value chains. The slow integration progress in China results from superimposed systemic problems covering weak independent underlying technologies, failed alliance chain coordination, unbalanced domestic and international institutional supply and unsustainable commercial models. Isolated technical or policy adjustments cannot deliver fundamental solutions.

Only the coordinated advancement of four core initiatives — construction of layered autonomous technical infrastructure, reconstruction of full-chain benefit coordination mechanisms, dual domestic judicial and international rule-of-law systems, and lightweight sustainable operation models — can free blockchain from shallow storage applications and deeply embed it into advanced manufacturing supply chains, modern agricultural clusters, green low-carbon industries and cross-border paperless trade. Under the dual-circulation pattern, blockchain undertakes dual missions: domestically empower the modernization of full industrial chains and unlock the productive value of data factors to foster new quality productive forces; externally participate deeply in the construction of global digital trade governance systems to boost China’s rule-making power in the digital restructuring of global value chains and provide underlying credible support for high-quality digital transformation of the real economy.

(2) Prospects for Future Research

Conduct quantitative empirical research to design mathematical long-term incentive models for alliance chains, developing dynamic node allocation mechanisms balancing equity and operational efficiency with quantifiable calculation frameworks.

In-depth research on complete institutional systems and multi-jurisdictional joint supervision mechanisms for cross-border document mutual recognition under RCEP and DEPA frameworks to form standardized cross-border digital governance solutions suited to China’s foreign trade conditions.

Explore full-process institutional design for confirmation, pledge and cross-border circulation of bulk commodity electronic warehouse receipts to improve credible trading systems for global physical commerce and offer Chinese solutions for worldwide digital transformation of trade.