Cryptopunk #8690 was sold for over $823,000 in China

A non-fungible token (NFT) from a CryptoPunk, was sold at auction in Shanghai organized by Shanghai Jiahe earlier this week for US$823,300.

So the CryptoPunk #8690 which had an estimated starting price of US$236,000, set a new record as the most expensive NFT ever sold in China.

It is important to note that the sale of this NFT is a milestone in the Asian country not only for its value, but also because China takes a tough stance on cryptocurrencies, including the ban on BTC and the ban on miners from its territory.

So, according to Yu, general manager of the department of modern and contemporary art at the Shanghai Jiahe auction, he said that the NFT payment was made in Chinese Yuan and the seller will transfer the NFT with the winning bidder.

Thus, Yu further said that the auction house, which follows Chinese government laws and regulations, closely followed the NFT trend and organized its first NFT auction in June 2021 and that, according to her, there is no government restriction. as for NFTs, but cryptocurrencies as a form of payment.

NFTs in China

So while NFTs are not included in China’s heightened ban against cryptocurrency-related activities, the country’s state media have expressed grave concern about these collectibles.

Chinese tech giants, including Alibaba and Tencent, have since revamped their NFTs capabilities and instead changed their references to “digital collectibles”.

However, the state-run Xinhua news agency seems interested in joining the NFT bandwagon by releasing its own “digital collection items”.

So, on December 24, state media released their own free NFTs, featuring 11 news photos from their archive with each limited to 10,000 copies.

So in this case, Xinhua said the collection, built on Tencent’s Zhixin chain, is a “one-of-a-kind end-of-the-year analysis” and represents “digital memory imprinted in the metaverse.”