Tencent, Ant Group, Baidu, JD.com, and several other leading Chinese tech companies last week issued a “self-disciplined development proposal” for the “digital collectible industry” that would introduce real-name authentication for users that issue, buy, and sell non-fungible tokens (NFTs).
The China Cultural Industry Association released a paper on June 30 that, although not legally obligatory, called on enterprises to “demand real-name identification of people who issue, sell, and acquire” NFTs and “only support legal money as the denomination and settlement currency.”
The latest initiative for China’s NFT space originates from private companies and as such is not legally binding; however, it could still mark an important step toward more regulatory clarity. State agencies responsible for developing industry standards may take the proposals into consideration.
Last year, Chinese authorities cracked down on crypto businesses in the country, not only banning crypto transactions, but also forcing many Bitcoin mining operators to move abroad.
The crackdown, however, was not extended on the NFT space, with China’s state-backed Blockchain Services Network announcing in January the creation of its own platform for launching tokenized digital collectibles—albeit running on permissioned, non-public blockchain infrastructure with no crypto transactions allowed.
Tech giants including Tencent, Ant Group, and Baidu, have also launched their digital collectible marketplaces built on private chains that allow purchases with the Chinese yuan only and prohibit secondary trading.
This news is published and verified by the NFT News media team.
