China's Nascent Digital Asset Trading Platform Set to Launch

The Chinese government is not hostile to the concept of NFTs, it is ready to launch its first Non-Fungible token marketplace.
NFTs have become a growing phenomenon in China even after cryptocurrency trading was outlawed back in September

The future of Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) is gaining more clarity in China with the recent developments at a glance. The mainland revived its interest by taking a big leap into the crypto world planning to become Asia’s crypto hub. China will introduce its first regulated Non-Fungible token (NFT) marketplace on January 1, 2023, a local media publication reported.

China’s tech giants jointly issued the “self-disciplined development proposal” for its “digital collectible industry,” a rebranded term for NFT in China to do away with the technology’s financial aspects. The state-owned and private entities include China Cultural Industry and Art Exhibitions China, Ant Group Baidu, and Huban Digital, among others.

The opening ceremony of the marketplace whose name translates to “China Digital Asset Trading Platform,” will be launched in Beijing. Notably, the platform’s license is based on the China Digital Exchange. Besides NFTs, the marketplace is to allow the trading of digital copyrights related to digital collectibles but it will be entirely regulated seeking to avoid speculations in the secondary market.

In terms of industry supervision and regulation, digital collectibles are a new type of business, and laws, regulations, and regulatory policies will be gradually improved, so there are still some uncertainties.

Yu Jianing, an expert on NFTs and metaverse developments stated.

Earlier this month the Hangzhou internet court ruled out that Non-fungible tokens are virtual properties protected by law. The Hangzhou court of China pointed out that NFTs possess the mentioned characteristics of property rights such as value, scarcity, controllability, and traceability.

Crypto enthusiasts have been watching out for regulatory directions since cryptocurrency trading was outlawed in September, this prompted several crypto exchanges such as Huobi and OKK to cease operations in the country.

The country also vowed to crack down on the power-intensive process of crypto mining, leading to miners fleeing the country including the U.S. and Kazakhstan which borders China. The government labeled crypto mining as an extremely harmful industry that jeopardizes China’s pursuit of Carbon neutrality.