China’s state media agency will issue NFTs despite restrictions

Despite the Chinese government’s negative stance on cryptocurrencies, in general, the official Chinese state press agency Xinhua will issue a series of NFTs.

The digital collectibles will be free and available on Christmas Eve on your agency news app.

According to the official announcement, 11 photos will be released in the form of NFTs, with 10,000 copies each. All of them were taken by journalists during 2021.

In addition, the collection includes a photo commemorating the 100th anniversary of the Chinese Communist Party, celebrated in July on Tiananmen Square in Beijing.

There is also an NFT that commemorates the nation’s milestone of having administered more than 2.7 billion doses of vaccines.

The collections “record many precious historical moments in 2021,” the Xinhua statement said. “It is also a digital memory written in the metaverse world.”

Xinhua’s NFT-focused project is being supported by internet giant Tencent Holdings. The company is providing support for the blockchain technology behind digital news collectibles.

It is worth noting that some Chinese companies, including the Ant Group, are already exploring NFTs and metaverse.

And the restrictions?

The news comes shortly after an official at China’s central bank warned of the country’s rapidly growing interest in NFTs and activities related to the metaverse.

Gou Wenjun, head of the Anti-Money Laundering (AML) unit of the Chinese Central Bank (PBoC), suggested that there may be a need to regulate these sectors in the same way as cryptoactives.

According to him, although digital assets are used to store wealth, they can also be used for illicit purposes. He specifically cited money laundering and tax evasion.

“They are naturally isolated from the real world. Furthermore, they have a certain degree of interoperability, making it extremely easy to become money laundering tools for criminals,” he said.

Before focusing on NFTs and metaverse, the Chinese government had already announced a ban on cryptocurrencies and mining. This directly impacted the BTC price and the mining hash rate.

Since then, Chinese miners have moved abroad. The US, for example, has become the biggest BTC mining market in the world.