China launches national digital asset trading platform for NFTs on January 1
Editor’s Note: With so much market volatility, stay tuned for daily news! Get caught up in minutes with our quick summary of today’s must-read news and expert opinions. Sign up here!
(Kitco News) – China is preparing to launch the first legally-compliant secondary trading platform for digital assets across the country on January 1, according to local news reports.
The ‘China Digital Asset Trading Platform’ was jointly built by state-owned China Technology Exchange and China Cultural Relics Exchange Center in cooperation with Huaban Digital Copyright Service Center, a private company.
The China Digital Asset Trading Platform relies on the national-level exchange infrastructure of the China Technology Exchange, a national intellectual property trading institution jointly established by the Ministry of Science and Technology, the State Intellectual Property Office, the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Beijing Municipal people’s government. China Technology Exchange manages the trading functions of the exchange and provides a comprehensive and standardized trading system for digital assets, including processing and secure settlement mechanisms across the transaction process.
The China Digital Assets Trading Platform uses the China Cultural Heritage Chain for digital asset trading, which provides digital asset registration, rights verification, deposit certificates, rights protection monitoring and copyright protection services for institutions and individual users. The China Cultural Heritage Chain is designed to promote deep integration of blockchain technology applications and cultural digital copyright protection.
Yu Jianing, co-chairman of the Special Blockchain Committee of China Communications Industry Association, said that the launch of the China Digital Assets Exchange represents the acceleration of the digital transformation process of the country’s cultural industries, and shows that the growth rate of data capitalization and asset digitization is increasing. Yu also acknowledged that the development of digital assets in China is currently facing several problems such as technical limitations, valuation of collections and copyright disputes.
“In terms of industry oversight and compliance, digital collections is a new type of business, and laws, regulations and regulatory guidelines will gradually improve, so there are some uncertainties,” Yu said. “The platforms have clear responsibilities for issuing and trading digital collections. Compared to intellectual property rights and digital copyrights, digital collections face greater compliance risks.”
Earlier this month, a ruling by the Hangzhou Internet Court established the precedent that non-fungible tokens (NFTs) constitute online virtual property and will be recognized under Chinese law.
The court found that NFTs “have the object characteristics of property rights such as value, scarcity, controllability, and tradability” and “belong to virtual network property,” meaning they “should be protected by the laws of our country.” Their definition of NFTs set an important and far-reaching precedent for digital property in China, further distinguishing NFTs from cryptocurrencies and removing digital properties from the gray zone they have existed in since China moved to outlaw cryptocurrencies in September 2021.
Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and may not reflect the views of Kitco Metals Inc. The author has made every effort to ensure the accuracy of the information provided; however, neither Kitco Metals Inc. nor the author can guarantee such accuracy. This article is for informational purposes only. It is not an invitation to exchange goods, securities or other financial instruments. Kitco Metals Inc. and the author of this article do not accept responsibility for any loss and/or damage arising from the use of this publication.
