China Blockchain Firms Now File Next to AI and Deepfakes - Cryptonews.net
China's internet regulator has launched a unified national filing portal for blockchain, generative AI, algorithms and deep synthesis technologies, replacing separate systems.
China's blockchain service providers now submit registration details through a single national portal operated by the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC), the country's internet regulator. The new platform, called the Internet New Technology and New Application Information Service Filing System, also serves companies running generative AI, recommendation algorithms and deep-synthesis tools. The launch retires two standalone databases and gives Beijing one administrative view of technologies it treats as strategically sensitive.
The two older systems stopped accepting filings on the same day: the Internet Information Service Algorithm Filing System and the Blockchain Information Service Filing Management System, which had handled blockchain registrations since 2019. The consolidation comes as products increasingly cross categories, with services like chatbots writing content onto blockchains or trading apps pairing ranking algorithms with AI-generated summaries.
Filing Requirements Remain
The announcement leaves several practical questions open. It sets no new registration deadline, describes no transition period and makes no change to the documents providers must submit. The substantive obligations still come from the separate regulations that govern each technology. Under the Blockchain Information Service Management Regulations, a provider must file within 10 working days of starting service, with the CAC having 20 working days to process a complete submission.
A filing tells the regulator who runs a service, what it does and where its servers sit. It does not grant permission to offer financial products, and the regulator does not vouch for the service by accepting it.
Crypto Restrictions Unchanged
For digital-asset markets, the announcement contains nothing that changes access. Exchanges and trading remain prohibited on the mainland, the mining ban still stands, and foreign platforms gain no new opening. A registered blockchain project receives no right to issue tradable tokens, and the CAC announced no investment incentives or token approvals.
Beijing has maintained two tracks since the late 2010s: distributed-ledger technology receives state support and formal registration, while speculative crypto activity has been suppressed. The State Council moved against mining in May 2021, and the People's Bank of China followed in September 2021 by classifying crypto-related business activity as illegal financial activity.
Migration Questions Remain
The most immediate open question concerns thousands of services already holding filing numbers under the retired systems. The CAC has not yet specified whether those numbers carry over automatically, how pending applications will be handled, or whether filing forms will be standardized across the four categories. Detailed guidance on these points would indicate whether the consolidation reduces paperwork or simply relocates it.
Hong Kong maintains a separate legal system and continues licensing virtual-asset trading platforms through its Securities and Futures Commission. The city implemented its Stablecoins Ordinance on August 1, 2025, creating a licensing regime for fiat-backed stablecoin issuers. The mainland portal does not apply in Hong Kong, and the divergence between the two systems on blockchain services warrants attention as implementation details emerge.
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