China plans to create a clear distinction between cryptocurrencies and nonfungible tokens (NFTs), this is a reassurance that NFTs are legal in the country as opposed to their counterpart cryptocurrencies.
According to the South China Morning Post, the Blockchain-based Service Network (BSN), a government-backed blockchain project in China, is developing infrastructure to help enterprises and people build platforms and apps to administer NFTs.
The project, officially known as the BSN-Distributed Digital Certificate (BSN-DDC), aims to enable the implementation of non-crypto NFTs by providing application programming interfaces for the building of user portals and apps that accept fiat money as the only form of payment.
The CEO of BSN tech support company Red Date Technology, Yifan, emphasized that NFTs are legal in China as long as they are not utilized with Bitcoin (BTC) or other cryptocurrencies. To enable an on-chain governing body, he claimed the next architecture would use an open, permissioned blockchain.
He told Cointelegraph that “public chains can’t be legally run within China,” and that “a reliable, low-cost infrastructure is critically needed to host all NFTs in China.” NFTs can only be deployed on “unreliable” private chains in the country without a dedicated nationwide NFT infrastructure, according to the executive.
About the project
Red Date intends to establish a compliant NFT platform that is totally segregated from the ordinary profile of crypto by allowing a single authority to oversee the infrastructure and intervene in the event of illicit conduct.
Red Date is working with all DDC project partners to make the network as transparent as possible while adhering to Chinese norms and laws, he said. On the BSN-DDC network, all gas fees are paid in fiat currency.
“We will provide services to NFT companies in Hong Kong, which means if there is any international business involving issuing NFTs inside China, they definitely can choose to use the BSN-DDC network via our Hong Kong gateway.”
BSN’s NFT infrastructure is supported by state-owned China Mobile, China UnionPay, and the State Information Centre. According to He, the BSN-DDC will incorporate ten blockchains, including an adapted version of Ethereum, Corda, and WeBank’s Fisco Bcos.
Red Date Technology and Turkish Chinese Business Matching Center, a Turkish consulting firm, announced an agreement last year to develop two international BSN portals in Turkey and Uzbekistan.