What will the future rely on to make money? Former Deputy Governor of the Central Bank provides the answer

Data is becoming the most valuable asset of our era. But it is not yet money.

How can vast amounts of data be turned into real cash? Recently, former PBOC Vice Governor Zhu Min’s words shed light on this major future trend. He straightforwardly stated that data has become a new type of asset, the “fifth element” after land and capital.

Zhu Min believes that today’s digital economy is driven by three things: algorithms, computing power, and data. Among them, data is the source and the “gold of the future.” Its magic lies in the fact that the more people use it, the greater its value becomes, with almost no loss, and it can continuously generate new revenue.

It sounds wonderful, but extracting this “data gold mine” is not easy.

Zhu Min pointed out four hurdles that must be overcome, representing the four pillars of a complete system:

Property Rights: Who exactly owns this data? Who can use it? Who can profit from it? Setting clear rules is the most basic prerequisite.

Valuation: How much is a piece of data worth? What about a dataset? A reliable valuation method is necessary; otherwise, the market is a tangled mess.

Trading: How can data be bought, sold, and circulated safely and conveniently like commodities? This requires compliant platforms and mechanisms.

Governance: Who will regulate? How to protect personal privacy and data security? This is the bottom line to ensure the market runs smoothly and develops sustainably.

The biggest challenge: Trust

It’s easy to say but hard to do. Data is intangible, almost zero-cost to copy, so how to confirm who owns it? How to ensure the trading process isn’t tampered with?

Trust issues are a thorn in the side of data assetization.

For this, Zhu Min is optimistic about a “golden key”: blockchain.

You can think of blockchain as a publicly accessible, unchangeable “public ledger.” Every footprint from the birth, circulation, to use of data is clearly recorded. This solves core trust issues like “whose data is it, how is it used, and whether there are violations.” With this technology, data can truly “flow” with confidence, and transaction costs will be greatly reduced.

This is not just technology; it’s a game-changer.

Once data can truly circulate freely like assets, the entire business world may change:

How to evaluate a company’s “fundamentals”? In the future, valuing a company might not only depend on factories and equipment but also on how much high-quality data assets it controls. Data will be a hard currency on the balance sheet.

More ways to raise funds. Can data be used as collateral for loans, like houses or cars? It’s entirely possible in the future. Data trusts, data credit… new financial services will emerge continuously, helping tech companies with valuable data but no heavy assets solve big problems.

Markets will become smarter. With smoother data circulation and broken information asymmetry, resource allocation efficiency will greatly improve, and corporate decision-making will become increasingly intelligent.

In summary:

From a jumble of 0s and 1s to the “digital gold” everyone is vying for, we are standing at the threshold of an era transformation. Zhu Min’s insights clearly outline the future landscape.

Looking domestically, from the “Data Element X” action plan to the various local data exchanges opening, a wave of infrastructure development around data has already begun.

This revolution is both a challenge and an unprecedented opportunity for every individual and enterprise. Those who can understand the value of data first may be the ones to secure a ticket to the future.