The regulation in China on the development of NFTs and DApps

News on regulation in China: Chinese commitment to the development of NFTs and decentralized applications (DApps) persists, despite the ban on cryptocurrency trading. 

The Chinese Ministry of Industry has announced its intention to draft strategic documents to promote the growth of NFTs and decentralized apps. Let’s see all the details below. 

China challenges regulation: NFT and DApp

As anticipated, China aims to promote the development of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and decentralized applications (DApps), demonstrating a strong commitment to blockchain technology, despite the recent negative regulation on cryptocurrencies.

The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology announced in a document published on Tuesday its intention to develop strategic documents to outline the development direction of web3.

The central government has emphasized that attention will be focused on key sectors, such as governance and industry, with explicit encouragement to explore new business models, such as NFT and decentralized applications.

The goal is to accelerate application innovation and build a digital ecosystem for Web 3.0. These statements were made in response to questions from Johnny Ng, a member of the CPPCC National Committee, the country’s top political advisory body.

The ministry has also announced plans to launch pilot projects related to distributed digital identity, with the aim of exploring new approaches for authentication and management of web3 digital identity.

This new push from the central government towards the development of web3 follows the efforts of various local governments, which at the beginning of this year committed themselves to the development of the metaverse industry.

For example, the province of Sichuan announced in August its goal of growing the metaverse industry to reach a market size of 250 billion yuan (35.1 billion dollars) by 2025. 

China, despite the ban on trading cryptocurrencies since September 2021, has maintained local NFT trading, which however falls into a regulatory gray area.

China RealDID: the decentralized identification system that redefines data protection

At the beginning of this month, the state-backed Blockchain-based Service Network China introduced the China RealDID, a nationwide decentralized identification system, in collaboration with the research institute of the Chinese Ministry of Public Security.

According to a statement shared with The Block, BSN described China RealDID as an extension of Anicert’s Cyber Trusted Identity, emphasizing that the launch of the system represents a “bold step in protecting personal data”. 

Through this system, users have the possibility to register or access commercial websites using their DID addresses and private keys, offering an advanced level of security and privacy.

As anticipated, despite the ban on cryptocurrencies, China’s technological advancements in the field of blockchain are remarkable. 

These are highlighted mainly by the introduction of the decentralized identifier with real name in the context of the Web3 domain, as observed by BSN, the developer of the Chinese national blockchain infrastructure.

The latest progress of AI in China 

The Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) industry is growing, driven by companies seeking to increase productivity.

In 2018, Xinhua introduced the world’s first AI-based news anchor in the English language, Zhang Zhao, to reduce production costs and ensure continuous availability. 

Since then, generative artificial intelligence has recorded a significant increase, leading to the creation of translated podcasts, lip-syncing apps, and virtual influencers with a wide range of aspects. 

Another example is the virtual actress Lili Ziren, who has conquered the Chinese entertainment industry with her participation in the TV series “I Am Nobody”, produced by Tencent Animation and Comics and distributed on Youku. 

The extraordinary resemblance of Lili to a human artist has quickly attracted a growing fan base on all Chinese social media platforms.

In addition, the main technology giants in China, such as Alibaba, Baidu, and Tencent, have heavily invested in large-scale artificial intelligence models, expanding the scope of artificial intelligence in various sectors. 

The growing fascination for content generated by artificial intelligence is evident in online videos exploring the field of artificial intelligence and the emergence of digital avatars based on this technology in China.

Recent developments have seen the integration of artificial intelligence in the Chinese billion-dollar live streaming industry, allowing AI streamers to interact with users in real-time and even speak multiple languages. 

These digital clones are created with a single camera and five minutes of footage of the real person they emulate.

Source: https://en.cryptonomist.ch/2023/12/20/regulation-in-china-the-development-of-nfts-and-dapps-despite-the-ban-on-crypto-trading/