China Daily, an English-language newspaper under the Publicity Department of the Communist Party of China, recently announced its desire to create its own metaverse platform and NFT marketplace.
According to the newly published announcement, China Daily is allocating 2.813 billion Chinese yuan (approximately $390,000 USD) to a third-party contractor to design an NFT platform within its budget.
The contractor can be a blockchain-focused company, either from China or abroad. Additionally, the company’s blockchain network that wins the contract must be capable of handling up to 10,000 transactions per second.
Contractors have until October 17th to submit their applications and design the platform within a three-month timeframe.
The goal of China Daily’s Everyday NFT Platform is to “enhance the influence of Chinese culture” through various means, including utilizing “metaverse, virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), mixed reality (MR), blockchain, non-fungible tokens (NFTs), big data, cloud computing, and other technologies.”
Developers state that the platform should allow users to “upload, display, and manage digital collections” while supporting multimedia formats and various types of collections. Pricing functions, bidding mechanisms, and time limits must also be integrated into the NFT platform, along with the ability to accept multiple currencies.
“In addition to our own platform, based on the project’s goals and target groups, mainstream NFT platforms at home and abroad suitable for issuing digital NFT collections will be selected. Foreign platforms include but are not limited to OpenSea, Rarible, SuperRare, Foundation, etc.”
China Daily’s decision comes at a time when China remains stringent with cryptocurrencies, having initiated a ban on cryptocurrency trading activities since 2021. Although some blockchain entities continue to operate in the country, they often face close scrutiny from law enforcement authorities.