Around 20 partners plan to launch infrastructure to enable the development of NFTs in China, through the state-backed Blockchain Services Network (BSN). Digital certificates issued via BSN will not support cryptocurrencies.
China and the Blockchain, a complex relationship
China has closed itself to cryptocurrencies, waiting for its digital yuan, and remains resistant to the blockchain. A decentralized system favoring anonymity does not please the authoritarian regime in Beijing. According to the law, the State must be able to control the identity of its citizens on any digital platform. To prevent “illegal” activities, of course.
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Nevertheless, China, like its digital giants, does not want to miss out on this technology, which some already imagine as the future web3. Alibaba and Tencent each released a platform to trade NFTs in August. The “non-fungible tokens” were cautiously renamed “digital collectibles” in October to avoid Beijing’s ire. Baidu, JD.com have followed suit.
Beijing has decided to get started, via BSN, reports the South China Morning Post. He Yifan, managing director of Red Date Technology, describes the Blockchain Services Network as an adapted version of the blockchain to Chinese legal requirements. It is supported by a myriad of public companies such as China mobile or China UnionPay.
The BSN-Distributed Digital Certificate (BSN-DDC) infrastructure should facilitate the creation of sites or applications to manage and exchange NFTs. It promises application programming interfaces for companies or individuals. Naturally, only yuan is allowed on the platforms that come from it.
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BSN-DDC will integrate an adapted version of the Ethereum and Corda blockchain, according to information from Hong Kong. The Chinese blockchain Fisco Bcos of WeBank, supported by Tencent, would also be there. Platforms from BSN-DDC will be able to issue a wide compatibility NFT for 0.7 cents.
With such a price, the profitability of the service, around 10 million NFTs created, will be hard to achieve. the South China Morning Post, owned by Alibaba, a company that owns an NFT exchange platform, fears that the market will be disrupted.
He Yifan was reassuring. He recalls that the NFT, for the moment confined to the world of art, could quickly impose itself as a tool for managing certificates, useful for license plates, school diplomas, etc. BSN-DDC is to go live by the end of January.