China‘s leading social media platforms and internet giants have updated their policy to remove NFT platforms, citing a lack of regulatory clarity and fearing government restriction.
WeChat reportedly removed several digital collectible platform accounts for violations of the rules. Digital collection platform Xihu No.1, one of the hyped NFT projects in the market, was among the removed platforms.
WhaleTalk, a digital collectible platform launched by tech giant Ant group, also updated its policy to increase the penalty for using an OTC desk for trading NFTs.
The rise in the number of illegal transactions and bot purchases associated with the NFT platforms has prompted several tech giants to take precautionary measures. During the blanket ban on crypto announced in September 2021, any firms found aiding crypto transactions or foreign crypto firms were held accountable. The firms recent actions and changes in user agreement policies seem to be done to avoid government crackdown.
While cryptocurrencies are strictly prohibited in mainland China, the Beijing government had shown no intention of banning NFTs. This was one of the main reasons for Tencent and Alibaba to file several new NFT patents over the past year.
