China’s 96-core blockchain chip outpaces Visa

China’s new 96-core blockchain chip boosts transaction speeds by 50x, surpassing Visa and Mastercard. Already in use by government and state enterprises, it advances China’s tech independence and blockchain capabilities.

China has introduced a groundbreaking 96-core blockchain acceleration chip, representing a major advancement in blockchain infrastructure. Developed under the Chang’An Chain initiative and presented by Dong Jin of the Beijing Microchip Blockchain and Edge Computing Research Institute, this chip delivers transaction processing speeds up to 50 times faster than traditional processors. The chip accelerates essential blockchain functions, including cryptographic signature verification, hashing, and consensus, enabling it to process hundreds of thousands of transactions per second. This performance surpasses the daily capacities of leading payment networks such as Visa and Mastercard. Built on the open RISC-V architecture, the chip is central to China’s drive for technological independence and is already deployed across various government ministries and state-owned enterprises. This innovation addresses scalability and efficiency challenges, supports anti-fraud efforts, and highlights China’s continued control over cryptocurrency activities. The launch also coincided with news of an AI system autonomously initiating cryptocurrency mining, fueling discussions on the intersection of AI and blockchain.