Wuhan Plans To Launch NFTs Due To Uncertainty Of Rules In China

The Wuhan City Government in China has reportedly suspended plans for nonfungible tokens (NFT) aspirations. (photo: dock. istock)

JAKARTA China's Wuhan City Government has reportedly suspended its planned nonfungible tokens (NFT) aspirational plans amid growing regulatory uncertainty surrounding crypto technology and Web3 in the country.

Wuhan first announced its plans to support the metaverse and NFT after the COVID-19 outbreak as a step to boost its economy which has been devastated by the pandemic. The city has become the first epicenter of the spread of COVID-19.

The Wuhan government's industrial plan for the development of the city's metaverse economy is included in NFT. However, that part has now been removed from the latest version, according to a South China Morning Post report. The report notes that the revised version still encourages businesses to focus on decentralized technology and Web3 but does not mention NFT.

Under a newly revised plan, Wuhan wants to push for more than 200 metaverse companies and build at least two metaverse industrial areas by 2025.

Looking at the revised draft version, the Chinese government appears to be removing anything that involves exchange of tokens or digital properties. His stance has been clear for years as government development plans have incorporated metaverse-related technology.

For example, several cities in China, including the capital Beijing and Shanghai, have announced plans for metaverse innovation, but any private business or tech giant involved with NFT must face a ban from the government.

Earlier this year, China wanted to separate NFT from cryptocurrencies in a bid to help nascent industries grow despite a complete ban on crypto ones. This resulted in a peak interest among the Chinese community as the OpenSea NFT market was flooded with lists from citizens in Shanghai during the COVID lockdown.

However, with increasing popularity, the number of fraudulent activities has also increased, leading to some government warnings to investors against NFT trading.

China is very clear about its stance on the use of crypto in the country and has finally imposed a total ban in 2021 after several years of carrying out many restrictions. However, the government's stance on Web3 technology emerging, especially those involving token exchanges or digital collections, or NFTs, seems to be far from clear at the moment.