The government-backed portal would act as a secondary market for NFTs and copyrights on digital assets.

China will open its first regulated platform for nonfungible token (NFT) trading on January 1st, 2023, according to a story from local news source Sina News that was published on December 28. The state-owned Chinese Technology Trade, the state-owned Art Exhibitions China, and the privately-owned Huban Digital Copyrights Ltd. formed the organization, which serves as a secondary market for the exchange of NFTs.

The platform will make it easier to trade copyrights for digital assets in addition to NFTs. According to an individual acquainted with the project, its goal is to “control and avoid the excessive speculation in secondary [NFT] marketplaces.” Yu Jianing, a well-known authority on Chinese advancements in digital assets and the metaverse, said in an interview:
“Digital assets constitute a new type of commerce in terms of industry supervision and regulation, and much needs to be clarified in terms of laws, rules, and supervisory policies. There is therefore a great degree of uncertainty. It is apparent that platforms are in charge of listing and trading digital assets. Digital assets are more susceptible to regulatory soundness risk than intellectual property rights and digital copyrights.

NFTs are considered to be virtual property that is legally protected and that “have the object characteristics of property rights such as value, scarcity, controllability, and tradeability,” according to a prior decision by China’s Hangzhou Internet Court on November 29. Since 2021, cryptocurrency exchanges have been prohibited in China, despite the fact that crypto ownership is regarded as virtual property that is protected by the law.