Alibaba Cloud launches NFT solution, and memory holes in it quickly
The cloud business unit of the Chinese marketplace giant Alibaba Group Holdings launched a new non-fungible token (NFT) solution and then immediately deleted all publicity of it online.
According to a now deleted Twitter post that announced the launch on Wednesday, the company’s NFT marketplace solution included “web hosting, digital marketing and content delivery”, but is no longer listed on the website.
There are also no press releases or announcements related to the NFT solution on Alibaba’s website anymore. In the meantime, the link to the solution’s website still appears in Google’s search results and is now redirected to Alibaba Cloud’s solution index page.
The reason behind the deleted social media posts and the removal on the website is unclear at this stage. While crypto-commerce and mining are banned in China, there is a regulatory gray area with NFTs in the country – officials wrinkle their noses but have not yet issued a direct ban.
The short-term NFT-focused solution would offer Alibaba Cloud Elastic Compute Service (ECS) and Auto Scaling for market growth, an SMS-integrated digital marketing service for sellers to connect with buyers, and a global delivery service, Alibaba Cloud Content Delivery Network (CDN) and Server Load Balancer (SLB) which can support 100,000 queries per second.
The South China Morning Post (SCMP) – owned by Alibaba – noted that the solution was intended for customers outside mainland China, with a representative telling the publication that the solution was only for Alibaba Cloud’s international website.
The SCMP also stated that Alibaba-affiliated companies such as Ant Group and Tencent Holdings have moved to avoid potential regulatory setbacks in the past by labeling their listed NFTs as “digital collectibles.” They are also offered on private blockchains and traded / purchased with Chinese fiat currency.
Alibaba Cloud still has a new meta-focused solution built on the site that offers remote rendering, data analysis and AI, along with Blockchain as a Service (BaaS) as part of the private Alibaba Cloud Blockchain.
Under the metaverse solution, the company notes that NFTs can be integrated into a metaverse built by Alibaba’s services, but the company does not offer any of the specific infrastructure.
Related: Half of Asia’s wealthy investors have crypto in their portfolio: Rapport
In April, the China Banking Association, the China Internet Finance Association and the Securities Association of China issued a joint statement warning the public against investing in NFTs due to “hidden risk” in the assets. They also noted that companies should not consider NFTs as other financial products such as securities, precious metals and other financial products.
Cointelegraph also reported in March that Chinese social media giants such as WeChat and WhaleTalk updated their policies to restrict or remove NFT platforms from their networks, citing a lack of regulatory clarity and fears of a government breach. However, Beijing has not yet issued a general ban on the sector.
