China is launching its first state-run NFT marketplace, known as the “China Digital Asset Trading Platform,” a secondary trading market for digital collectibles.
On January 1, Beijing will launch a ceremony unveiling the new marketplace that will be backed by the government-funded China Technology Exchange and China Cultural Relics Exchange Center, and the private company Huaban Digital Copyright Service Center.
The platform will not feature Bitcoin or Ethereum options – a major constraint.
Among the key tradable assets on the new blockchain – known as the China Cultural Protection Chain – will be digital copyrights, property rights and NFTs. The platform will also integrate a metaverse and the protection chain also includes registration for NFTs and crypto, and rights confirmation for digital assets.
Although China banned cryptocurrencies last year, NFTs are largely accepted in the country.
Chinese firms have been encouraged to label their products as “digital collectibles,” rather than NFTs. Limitations have also been placed on secondary market trading – in a bid to reduce “speculation” on NFT prices.
Although private sector secondary markets for “digital collectibles” exist in China, the fiat yuan is also used in these spaces in place of crypto assets. Marketplace transactions are recorded on “centralized ledgers, rather than on public blockchain.”
Major tech companies such as Alibaba and Tencent have already launched their own crypto-free NFT offerings. They also operate their own (heavily regulated) marketplaces.
This year, the country also released the government-supported Blockchain Services Network, defined as a “common infrastructure for the deployment and operation of blockchain applications globally.”
