chinese

Chinese Tech Giant Tencent to Shut Down NFT Platform Amid Trading Restrictions

22/07/2022 by Idelto Editor

China’s Tencent Holdings plans to shut down its non-fungible token (NFT) platform Huanhe only a year after its launch. The social media giant has reportedly made the decision because of the strict ban on the resale of NFTs imposed by the authorities in Beijing.

Huanhe to Close Down a Year After Launch as China Curbs NFT reselling

Shenzhen-headquartered technology conglomerate Tencent is preparing to shut down its NFT platform as early as this week, according to a report by Chinese media outlet Jiemian, quoted by the South China Morning Post. The move comes amid restrictions on the secondary trading of NFTs in the People’s Republic which are said to have hurt the platform’s business potential.

Jiemian is citing unidentified sources from Tencent but the company has refrained from providing an official comment on the matter. Huanhe, which issues and distributes blockchain-based digital collectibles, was launched just a year ago.

All NFTs on the app are already marked as “sold out,” although users can still visit augmented reality art exhibitions. Another report quoting a different Tencent source, from the state-owned media Yicai Global, reveals that trading halted in early July in anticipation of a crackdown.

Huanhe was developed by Tencent’s Platform and Content Group (PCG), which was hit hard by lay-offs earlier this year. If the NFT unit terminates activities, this would mark a major retreat by Tencent from the market of digital collectibles, the SCMP notes.

In June, Tencent’s social media app Wechat announced its intentions to prohibit public accounts facilitating secondary trading or offering guidance for non-fungible tokens. A little later, the Tencent News app stopped selling NFTs.

Other Chinese tech giants, such as Alibaba Group Holding, have been careful with their involvement with NFTs, with Chinese platforms usually substituting the NFT label with the term “digital collectibles,” which isn’t necessarily associated with cryptocurrencies.

The government in the mainland has been going after crypto-related activities, including investment, trading, and mining. It has highlighted concerns that speculation could lead to bubbles in the digital assets market, while promoting the state-issued digital yuan. According to existing regulations, the tokens can be purchased only with Chinese fiat and never resold.

Do you expect other NFT platforms in China to shut down in the near future? Tell us in the comments section below.

Wechat to Prohibit Accounts From Providing Some NFT and Crypto Services

22/06/2022 by Idelto Editor

Tencent’s #Wechat to ban accounts from providing transaction channels and guidance for #cryptocurrencies.

Tencent’s Wechat intends to impose penalties on public accounts facilitating secondary trading of NFTs, a press report has revealed. Accounts offering transaction channels and guidance for cryptocurrencies have also been targeted by the new rule.

Popular Chinese App to Impose Restrictions on NFT Trading

Wechat, the instant messaging, social media, and mobile payment app developed by the Chinese tech giant Tencent, is introducing a policy update that will prohibit the provision of certain services related to non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and cryptocurrencies on its platform.

Quoted by the South China Morning Post (SCMP), Tencent said it will “order accounts to rectify if they provide relevant services or content for secondary trading of digital collectibles, and limit some features or even ban the account.” The news comes after in April, Wechat acknowledged it had suspended some accounts linked to NFTs.

The policy update will also introduce penalties for accounts providing transaction channels, guidance, or issuing cryptocurrencies to Wechat users. Accounts enabling initial coin offerings (ICOs) and transactions of crypto derivatives will also be affected.

The report notes that with the move, Wechat’s management is taking into account the guidelines issued by Chinese regulators earlier this year suggesting that businesses in the industry should steer clear of the financial aspect of such digital assets.

According to Wang Yinying, a Shanghai-based lawyer specializing in blockchain and Web3-related cases, “the new rule’s emphasis is on the narrative that the secondary market for trading digital collectibles might incur speculation and instability of the financial market.”

Wechat Said to Be Acting Preemptively

The legal expert was referring to joint statement issued by the National Internet Finance Association of China, China Banking Association, and the Securities Association of China in April aimed at curbing risks associated with cryptocurrencies.

“Tencent is acting preemptively to keep itself out of trouble,” commented Bao Linghao, a senior analyst at research firm Trivium China. He pointed out that currently there are no formal regulations on NFT trading yet, but emphasized that “Chinese regulators don’t like speculation of any kind, including NFTs.”

This spring, Chinese financial institutions were asked to stay away from NFTs, and their use in a number of areas, including securities, insurance, loans, and precious metals, was banned. Experts believe the People’s Republic is likely to establish a centralized platform for secondary trading of NFTs.

Chinese digital collectibles are built on consortium blockchains, not open blockchains such as Ethereum. Additionally, the guidelines issued in April suggested that they must be bought using the Chinese yuan under real identities to avoid money laundering risks.

SCMP further quoted Wechat as saying that the accounts which display digital collectibles and primary transactions would need to have contracts with blockchain companies certified by the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) and refrain from supporting secondary trading.

Blockchains built by the big tech firms like Alibaba Group Holding, Tencent, Baidu, and JD.com were among the first approved by the CAC in 2019, the daily remarked, adding that since last year, consumer brands and Chinese state media have jumped on the NFT bandwagon with collectibles based on such platforms.

What future do you expect for NFTs in China and what’s your opinion about Wechat’s new restrictions? Share your thoughts on the subject in the comments section below.

China’s Central Bank Digital Currency Now Has 261 Million Users — $14 Billion in Digital Yuan Transactions Made

20/01/2022 by Idelto Editor

China’s central bank digital currency now has 261 million unique users, according to an official of the central bank, the People’s Bank of China (PBOC). Furthermore, transactions worth 87.5 billion yuan ($13.78 billion) have been made using the digital yuan and more than 8 million merchants now accept e-CNY.

China’s Central Bank Digital Currency Growing in Adoption

Zou Lan, head of financial markets at the People’s Bank of China (PBOC), provided an update on the country’s central bank digital currency (CBDC), the digital yuan, at a press conference Tuesday.

According to the PBOC official, e-CNY had 261 million unique users at the end of 2021, and transactions worth 87.5 billion yuan ($13.78 billion) have been made using the Chinese central bank digital currency. In addition, more than 8 million merchants now accept the digital yuan.

China’s central bank has been actively testing its digital currency, also known as Digital Currency Electronic Payment (DCEP), in various cities over the past two years. The central bank has been giving digital yuan away through lotteries for residents to spend.

The digital yuan wallet app has become one of China’s fastest-growing apps by the number of downloads.

The app became available in the iOS and Android app stores earlier this month. However, only users in pilot cities and at the upcoming Winter Olympics venues can sign up and spend the digital yuan at one of the 8 million stores that accept e-CNY.

The trial regions for the digital yuan include Shenzhen, Suzhou, Xiongan, Chengdu, Shanghai, Hainan, Changsha, Xian, Qingdao, Dalian, and venues of this year’s Winter Olympics, hosted by Beijing.

What do you think about the adoption of the digital yuan? Let us know in the comments section below.

China’s Xinhua News Agency to Issue NFTs Despite Crackdown on Crypto

22/12/2021 by Idelto Editor

Xinhua, the official news agency of China, is going to issue an NFT collection with photographs depicting historic moments of the passing year. The initiative, which comes amid an ongoing crypto crackdown, is seen as a boost for blockchain, the technology that also underpins cryptocurrencies.

Xinhua to Create Digital Collectibles Based on Photo Reports

The state-owned Chinese news agency Xinhua is preparing to issue a digital collection representing photographic news reports from 2021. The selection of 11 photos, each limited to 10,000 copies, will be released on Dec. 24. They will be issued free of charge via Xinhua’s news app, using non-fungible token (NFT) technology, the agency announced, quoted by Bloomberg and Reuters.

The collection, which also features a photo commemorating the 100th anniversary of the Chinese Communist Party, will “imprint digital memories into the metaverse,” Xinhua noted. Euronews remarks that Beijing-controlled media has in the past described the virtual reality space as “an illusionary concept.”

Stocks of Chinese firms operating in the field such as Goertek and Perfect World rose on Wednesday. Companies like the social media giant Tencent Holdings and Ant Group have previously issued NFTs on their blockchain platforms. According to a statement by Tencent in November, Beijing is expected to allow the metaverse to operate under domestic rules.

While NFTs in particular have not been targeted yet, this year the Chinese government reiterated wide-ranging restrictions on cryptocurrencies initially imposed in 2017. А number of related activities such as trading, exchange, and fundraising through coin offerings were banned.

Bitcoin mining, which was left alone until this spring, was hit in a crackdown which began following a decision by the State Council in May. A few days ago, a state-controlled industry organization blacklisted crypto-themed short videos shared online in the People’s Republic.

The digital collection, which Xinhua described as “a unique year-end review,” will be issued on a blockchain from Tencent Cloud. The NFTs will feature unique identification and ownership information, the agency noted, while highlighting their “special commemorative significance and collection value.”

Do you think other Chinese organizations will issue NFTs? Share your expectations in the comments section below.

China Censors Crypto-Themed Short Videos Shared Online

18/12/2021 by Idelto Editor

An industry organization controlled by the Chinese government has updated a list of topics users of video-sharing apps should avoid. Crypto-related content is now among the entries along with traditional taboos in China like mocking its leadership, provoking sectarianism, and showing sex.

Clips on Crypto Trading, Mining Banned in China

The China Netcasting Services Association (CNSA) has recently published a blacklist of 100 topics that online videos posted on platforms similar to Tiktok should not feature. Among them are the usual suspects like questioning China’s official history, imitating its political leaders, challenging the country’s guiding ideology of “socialism with Chinese characteristics,” and discussing fascism.

The “Online Short Video Content Review Standard Rules (2021)” document marks a number of other banned themes. A report by the Register points to a few of them like drug use, gambling machines, crime and gangs, violence, and mental abuse. Sexually explicit content, including that which promotes “non-mainstream views of marriage and love,” is also prohibited.

While most of these subjects were part of its previous version, the list has been updated with some new topics, most notably cryptocurrency. Videos promoting decentralized digital money like bitcoin by “inducing and instigating the public to participate in virtual currency ‘mining’, trading, and speculation,” are now considered off-limits by the Chinese censors.

Authorities in the People’s Republic banned crypto-related activities such as digital currency trading and capital raising through coin offerings back in 2017. However, the government did not initially interfere with bitcoin mining until earlier this year.

In May, the State Council, the cabinet of ministers in Beijing, decided to clamp down on the industry following President Xi Jinping’s pledge for China to achieve carbon neutrality in the next four decades. The nationwide government offensive forced miners to relocate to friendlier jurisdictions.

The CNSA ban applies to vids uploaded on platforms such as Douyin, Bytedance’s Chinese version of Tiktok, Kuaishou and other social media networks, messaging apps, and microblogging sites allowing short video-sharing like Wechat and Weibo.

As a new addition to the blacklist, cryptocurrency takes the 98th spot. Entry number 100, reading in English: “Other violation of laws, regulations, social public order, and good customs,” could ostensibly be construed as effectively untying the hands of Chinese regulators to censor almost any clip published online.

Do you expect Chinese authorities to adopt other restrictions regarding crypto-related content online? Share your thoughts on the subject in the comments section below.