Quick take:
- China has created its own blockchain ecosystem, dubbed the Blockchain Service Network (BSN).
- The BSN plans to launch an infrastructure that will support the deployment of NFTs by the end of the month.
- China wants to create an NFTs industry that is not connected to the wider crypto market.
China is probably the only country that is widely seen as a leader in crypto adoption, as well as a major obstacle for the industry. The Asian nation is among the few countries to launch a government digital currency with its digital Yuan, yet it continues to ban cryptocurrencies.
In the latest development, China is about to launch the first-ever government NFT marketplace, in yet another demonstration of its unique approach to crypto.
China banned all public blockchains, subsequently outlawing the buying and selling of cryptocurrencies like bitcoin. As a counter, it created its own blockchain ecosystem, dubbed the Blockchain Service Network (BSN). on it, it has built BSN-Distributed Digital Certificate (BSN-DDC) infrastructure, which will be used to deploy non-fungible tokens (NFTs).
According to the South China Morning Post, that infrastructure should be ready for use as early as within the next two weeks.
The infrastructure will offer application programming interfaces for businesses or individuals to differentiate it from other NFTs, allowing users to build their own NFT management portals and apps. In addition, the marketplace will only support the Chinese Yuan for NFT transactions and fees.
Although public blockchains are illegal in China, the concept of NFTs is fully embraced, with He Yifan, chief executive of Red Date Technology, which provides technical support to BSN saying that they could bring billions in annual output in China in the future.
The BSN ecosystem is backed by state-owned China Mobile, China UnionPay and State Information Centre, and has already reportedly integrated 20 public blockchains, including the adopted version of Ethereum and several other locally based chains.
The infrastructure will also have similar features to multi-chain projects like Polkadot, allowing transactions across chains. Yifan, said, transactions will attract low fees as compared to crypto-transacted NFTs, adding that NFTs can be issued at prices as low as 0.05 yuan ($0.007).
The BSN-DDC infrastructure won’t be the first to support NFTs in China. Leading internet companies Alibaba, Tencent, Baidu and JD.com have all launched NFTs since last summer, calling them digital collectibles in a bid to comply with crypto regulations.
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