China is preparing to launch its first state-backed non-fungible token (NFT) marketplace as it continues to embrace blockchain technology, according to media reports.

Dubbed the ‘China Digital Asset Trading Platform’, the NFT platform will be launched in Beijing on January 1, 2023. The platform will be a secondary market allowing users to trade digital copyrights, property rights, and collectibles.

It will reportedly be run by the state-owned China Technology Exchange in collaboration with the government-backed Art Exhibitions China and a private company, Huban Digital Copyrights.

The platform’s underlying blockchain is called ‘China Cultural Protection Chain’, according to the reports.

A blockchain, typically, is a decentralized platform for open-market transactions and information. However, public chains are illegal in China as the state requires all internet systems to verify user identities and permit the regulator to intervene in the event of “illegal activities.”

Despite being crypto-skeptic, China was one of the first nations to embrace the NFT industry. In 2021, Beijing banned all crypto transactions, urging citizens to “stay away” from them. As a result, NFTs (digital collectibles in China) have become extremely popular in the country.

In November, the Hangzhou Internet Court of China ruled that NFTs are virtual property protected by law because they share “the object characteristics of property rights such as value, scarcity, controllability, and tradability.”

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