In a joint effort between the state-owned Chinese Technology Exchange, the state-owned Art Exhibitions China and the company Huban Digital Copyrights Ltd, China’s first nationwide NFT market is scheduled to return on-line this week.
It’s designed as a secondary marketplace for buying and selling digital collectibles, together with copyrights for digital property. Perhaps unsurprisingly, it’s constructed on China’s nationwide Wenbao, or “cultural protection” blockchain, which helps confirm the authenticity of artifacts and industrial items. Currently, solely the NFT platform’s touchdown web page is accessible.
1400 blockchain corporations in China
On Dec. 29, the state-owned China Academy for Information and Communications Technology, or CAICT, disclosed in its nationwide white paper that over 1,400 blockchain corporations are working within the nation regardless of strict laws. Together, Chinese and U.S. blockchain corporations account for 52% of such entities globally. In one instance of distributed ledger functions in public service, CAICT researchers wrote:
“[In the] Zhejiang Provincial blockchain electronic invoice platform, [authorities] used blockchain’s multiple access point and decentralized process capabilities, along with technological highlights such as smart contracts, to improve the trust verification across various departments. This led to the digital circulation of electronic invoices; their issuance, receipt, inspection, reimbursement, and improved the information management level and service capabilities of electronic invoices in financial departments.”
Similarly, native information outlet Shanghai Securities News reported that the digital yuan central financial institution digital forex, or e-CNY CBDC, surpassed 104.8 billion Chinese yuan ($15.21 billion) in utilization within the province of Zhejiang since its inception in April. Provincial residents have opened 24.14 million e-CNY wallets, and authorities claimed to have distributed 3.5 billion yuan ($510 million) in tax refunds by way of the e-CNY to residents as an experiment. Despite the outcomes, consultants akin to former Chinese central banker Xie Peng mentioned that “usage has been low” for the CBDC.
Kunming’s blockchain KPIs
On Dec. 30, the City of Kunming revealed its three-year plan for municipal digital economic system growth. The report set a 25% annual progress goal for town’s digital economic system to surpass 500 billion yuan ($72.58 billion) in two years. In addition, local-level communist get together officers should meet collective key efficiency indicators of incubating a minimum of 20 blockchain-specific functions and inspiring the event of a minimum of 10 “strongly competitive” and technologically superior blockchain corporations by the tip of 2024. “Please implement [them] fully and completely,” the doc states.
Moutai’s metaverse hits 1 million customers
On Jan. 1, popular Chinese liquor distiller Moutai and web expertise agency WangYi launched their joint metaverse Xunfeng World on the Apple App Store. Developers designed the expertise primarily based on the Moutai distilleries within the Guizhou province. Players can work together with each other and distillers to be taught the standard Moutai-making expertise.
Just two days later, its registered customers surpassed 1 million, with the app rating No. 1 within the e-commerce class in China. However, the app solely had a ranking of two.4/5 on the time of writing, with customers complaining about in-game options, “excruciating” wait instances for Know Your Customer verification, login difficulties and poor customer support. One person wrote:
“There is no customer hotline, there is no customer service, and I don’t even know where to solve the problem. I looked forward to joining from the waitlist, but I could never pass KYC on the day of the app’s release. What’s wrong? I’m literally begging you to take my money so I can play this game, but it seems you don’t want it?”
Hong Kong crypto scams worsen
Currently, Hong Kong residents can’t commerce cryptocurrencies except they’re labeled as “professional investors” or have a minimum of 8 million Hong Kong {dollars} ($1.02 million) in bankable property. However, these laws have achieved little to curtail the rise of crypto scams.
A current Hong Kong police report cited by Rthk.hk revealed that within the first 10 months of 2022, the particular administrative area recorded 1,503 circumstances of funding scams involving complete property of $98.5 million, up 10% from the identical interval final yr.
About 70% of the scams have been labeled as involving crypto. One sufferer, Mr. Lee, reportedly misplaced 180,000 HKD ($23,000) after being contacted by a consultant claiming entry to unique insider data on the worth of SUSHI tokens. Mr. Lee later referred to as the police after his supposed buying and selling account was eliminated with out clarification.
Square Enix all in on blockchain
In an annual letter revealed on Jan. 1, Yosuke Matsuda, president of Japanese gaming big Square Enix, mentioned that the corporate would shift its enterprise focus to blockchain leisure. The transfer follows Square Enix’s announcement on May 3 that it might promote its blockbuster online game franchise Tomb Raider and use the proceeds to put money into new initiatives akin to blockchain, although it nonetheless retains different popular franchises akin to Final Fantasy. Matsuda wrote:
“I think it is fair to say that blockchain gained significant recognition as a field in 2022, as evidenced by ‘Web 3.0’ becoming a firmly established buzzword among businesspeople. However, the year also saw volatility in the cryptocurrency and NFT markets that tracked the dramatic shifts in the macroeconomy described above.”
Matsuda additionally mentioned that apart from monetization, blockchain and NFTs must be “delivering new experiences and excitement to customers” and that the corporate had “multiple blockchain games based on original IPs under development.” In its newest submitting, Square Enix reported 163 billion Japanese yen ($1.23 billion) in income and 39.4 billion yen ($297 million) in revenue for the primary six months to Sept. 30.
