The People’s Republic of China’s National Data Administration (NDA) has begun defining and regulating artificial intelligence (AI) tokens, or _ciyuan_, as "settlement units" that are "measurable, priceable, and tradable" to enhance "data supply" for AI development. This initiative aims to create a "data flywheel" and a "symbiotic ecosystem" by applying existing regulations on AI, data, and finance to govern the emerging _ciyuan_ economy.
Early efforts focus on who can participate in token trade, with price oversight potentially next. State-sanctioned standards and evaluation systems, like CAICT’s "Token Service Evaluation System," are being developed to become de facto benchmarks for government procurement and industry certification. State-owned China Telecom has launched Xingchen TokenHub and the Token Ecosystem Alliance, aggregating over 20 partners to anchor standards and services around its platform, offering retail token plans from RMB 9.9 ($1.45) monthly for 10 million tokens. This proactive state intervention is driven by the increasing centrality of tokens in AI infrastructure demand, exemplified by the "lobster farming" craze and subsequent "compute shortage," positioning tokens as key instruments linking datasets, model services, and compute resources.
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