Chinese government-owned newspaper to launch NFT platform

China Daily, an English-language newspaper owned by the Publicity Department of the Chinese Communist Party, wants to create its very own metaverse and nonfungible tokens (NFTs) platform.

According to a recent announcement, China Daily is awarding 2.813 million Yuan ($390,000) to a third-party contractor that can design the NFT platform within its budget specifications. The contractor can be “either a Chinese or foreign” firm specializing in blockchain, China Daily wrote. In addition, the mainnet of the blockchain firm that wins the contract must be capable of handling upwards of 10,000 transactions per second.

Contractors will have until Oct. 17 to submit their application and design the platform within three months’ time. The aim of the China Daily NFT Platform is to “improve the spread of the influence of the Chinese Civilization” through means such as the use of the “metaverse, virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), mixed reality (AR), and Blockchain, irreplaceable digital assets (NFT), big data, cloud computing and other technologies.”

Developers stated that the platform must allow “uploading, displaying, and managing digital collections and supports multimedia forms and multiple collection types.” Pricing, bidding, and limited-time functions must also be integrated into the NFT platform alongside multi-currency settlement.

“In addition to its own platform, based on the project goals and audience groups, domestic and overseas mainstream NFT platforms suitable for issuing digital collections will be selected to issue NFT digital collections. Foreign platforms include but are not limited to OpenSea, Rarible, SuperRare, Foundation, etc.”

China has banned all forms of cryptocurrency transactions since 2021. Though some blockchain entities still operate in the country, they often face intense scrutiny from law enforcement officials.