This week, China’s state news agency will release a number of digital collectibles. This comes in the wake of the country’s current anti-cryptocurrency onslaught.
The “digital news collectibles” will be minted from selected Xinhua News Agency photography reports published this year.
Xinhua said, “This is a one-of-a-kind year-end review. Moreover, it’s metaverse-written digital memory.”
The collection will include 11 distinct items, according to the announcement. They’ll each have 10,000 first-edition copies.
This is in addition to a limited-edition release. After its introduction on December 24, the collection will be available for free.
Ban on crypto
The announcement comes amid a year-long crackdown in China on private cryptocurrency activities including trading and mining. It aspires to be the world’s leading blockchain company in five years.
Non-fungible tokens have not been formally outlawed in China. They do, however, exist in a gray region that has the potential to attract unwanted attention. Chinese media sources, for their part, have advised against “blind speculation” in NFTs.
Tencent Holdings Ltd. and Ant Group Co., both domestic payment heavyweights, appear to have tacit consent to continue exploring blockchain-related innovations.
Both have issued NFTs on their own blockchain platforms, for example. Despite being under strict supervision, this is the case.
The “digital news collectibles” of China’s state news agency will run on the Tencent Cloud blockchain technology. They will all have unique identifiers and ownership data inscribed in them.
Preserving history
The Chinese state news agency isn’t alone in its interest in NFTs. Xinhua joins the ranks of other news organizations in stating that the digital artifacts have “unique commemorative significance and collector value.”
They, too, have begun to use the blockchain to commemorate historical events. The Associated Press sold its first NFT earlier this year.
Image courtesy of Cointelegraph News/YouTube