China's Official News Agency Launches NFTs, As Government Clamps Down On Crypto

What Happened: China's official state-owned media outlet, Xinhua News Agency announced the planned launch of a limited collection with 10,000 copies of 11 photos taken by journalists. The NFTs will be issued for free via its news app at 8 p.m. on Friday, the agency said.

It is a surprising development since earlier this year the Chinese government took strong measures to clamp down on cryptocurrencies in the country. The move led to the shutdown of crypto-related news sites and the migration of many Bitcoin miners. Still, this move is more likely a symptom of the “blockchain, not crypto” stance of the government rather than a change of its opposition to cryptocurrencies.

The report follows Chinese internet giants $Tencent(TCEHY.US)$ and $Alibaba(BABA.US)$ denying allegations that they were about to launch their own NFT platform in October. Local e-commerce giant $JD.com(JD.US)$ on the other hand released a series of non-fungible tokens on its own blockchain, distributing them for free during the same month.