Despite Government’s Strong Crackdown on Crypto, China’s State News Agency To Issue NFTs

Despite China’s strong crackdown on crypto, the country does not seem to be wary of NFTs much.

China’s State News Agency to Issue NFTs

According to recent reports, the Chinese State news agency will issue “digital news collectibles”. Xinhua News Agency, will issue NFTs minted for year’s selected photographs, on Dec 24. In addition to being a unique year-end review, NFTs are also digital memory crafted in the metaverse.

The statement noted, collection of 11 collectibles in total, will further be further comprised of 10,000 unique first edition units. After the launch on Dec 24, the collectibles will be available for free.

NFTs in China

The development has occurred in the midst of the Chinese state government’s crackdown on fundamental crypto related operations, such as minting, mining and sale of crypto. While the miniting or dealing of NFTs is not as such banned in the country, it certainly is in the gray area. Which means the state could prohibit NFTs too, if deemed necessary at any moment. Citing the government’s undesired scrutiny Xinhua News Agency, on their behalf, has issued a warning against “blind speculation”.

Seems to have gained tacit approval from the government’s relevant higher command, country’s giant payment networks, Ant Group Co and Tencent Holdings Ltd, are continuing their blockchain related activities. For instance, despite a very unfriendly environment, both the titans have issued collectibles on their respective platforms. Notably, Xinhua News Agency’s collection of collectables will also be launched on Tencent Holdings’ cloud blockchain platform. Each NFT among the collection will have its own unique identification and ownership information embedded on it.

Media and NFTs

Xinhua News Agency is not the first media outlet to enter the NFT market, rather their is a list of entities that are on a similar mission, given the digital collectibles have “special commemorative significance and collection value,”. Recently NY Times made highlights in the news, selling NFT of one of its columns, for a total of $560,000, approximately.