Beijing plans to offer training to 10,000 engineers per year in emerging technologies, including blockchain, artificial intelligence (AI), and big data. Despite its crypto ban, the world’s second most powerful country still has deep blockchain talent and seeks to develop its web3 capacities further with this initiative.

Beijing Begins Construction of Metaverse Innovation Center

According to local reports, the Beijing government intends to train 10,000 local engineers each year in the fields of rapidly-growing technologies such as blockchain, AI, and big data.

China’s capital outlined an implementation plan to foster digital technology talents, and apart from training, the authorities also plan to revamp their talent evaluation system to allow technical experts to obtain qualifications in nascent tech spaces. The plan was laid out in a government document filed by the Beijing Municipal Human Resources and Social Security Bureau, which serves as an administrator of the city’s workforce developments.

The initiative represents Beijing’s broader bet on Web3, often called the next internet iteration powered by blockchain and metaverse technologies. Other major Chinese cities have also been ramping up their Web3 endeavors, including Shanghai, which expects to generate $6.9 billion from its culture and tourism metaverse projects.

More recently, on July 6, Beijing announced the construction of the Beijing Metaverse Innovation Center, a new government-backed initiative to aid metaverse research, development, and adoption in the city.

China One of Biggest Crypto Hubs in Asia Despite Ban

China’s plan to educate a substantial number of blockchain and Web3 engineers highlights the nation’s abundant talent in these technological domains, despite the country’s comprehensive ban on crypto. Even though numerous companies have moved their entities overseas after the government’s crackdown on cryptocurrencies, China produced a generation of crypto-savvy talent as it played a key role in the industry’s early development.

Some of the world’s most successful crypto exchanges, such as Binance, KuCoin, Crypto.com, OKX, and the collapsed FTX, started in the Greater China area. The same goes for the broader Web3 engineers, who have flourished quietly despite the ban and are heading overseas for fundraising.

According to a recent report by K33, China accounts for 15% of the crypto workforce in Asia, only behind Singapore, Hong Kong, and India. Meanwhile, although it is deemed the leading crypto jurisdiction, the US accounts for just 29% of global crypto manpower.

This article originally appeared on The Tokenist

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