On Wednesday, the official Xinhua news agency announced that it will publish a digital media photo collection using non-fungible tokens (NFTs), a first for China and a boost for the blockchain technology that powers them, which Beijing has previously criticized.
NFTs, or digitized ownership certificates, have grown in popularity throughout the world this year, appearing as everything from autographed tweets to artworks.
However, China’s relationship with the technology that powers them, as well as with cryptocurrencies, is complicated.
The issuance by the state news agency would appear to suggest official backing for NFTs, but the party organ People’s Daily criticized them as a possible fraud last month.
According to an official notice, Xinhua plans to release the 11 images, all taken by journalists in 2021, for free online at 8 p.m. (1200GMT) on December 24, each in a limited edition of 10,000 copies.
The collection, which includes a photograph honoring the Chinese Communist Party’s 100th anniversary, will “imprint digital memories into the metaverse,” according to the company.
The Securities Times, another official media outlet, previously referred to the metaverse, a shared area based on virtual reality technologies, as “a great and illusionary concept.”
Chinese enterprises, most notably the unlisted Ant Group, are already investigating or implementing NFT technologies. Following the Xinhua news, most Chinese metaverse-related stocks surged on Wednesday.
Goertek (002241. SZ) increased its share price by 6%, while Perfect World (002624. SZ) increased its share price by approximately 4%.
Tencent Holdings (0700. HK), a Chinese social media giant, said last month that it expected Beijing to allow the metaverse to operate in China as long as it follows Chinese rules.
Cryptocurrencies, like bitcoin, are considered the natural method of payment in the metaverse, but Beijing has clamped down on them as probable conduits for illegal cash movements and money laundering, and in September announced a total ban on digital currency trading and mining.
