Recently, Xianyu, a leading peer-to-peer e-commerce platform in China that specializes in used goods under the Alibaba Group’s management, has made a significant move. They have relinquished their control over keyword censorship related to NFTs (Non-Fungible Tokens) in their search tool. At the same time, they have relisted NFT collections minted on Alibaba’s Ant Blockchain.
It’s important to note that the NFT collection known as Topnod NFT (鲸探) had been banned from secondary markets due to uncertainties in regulations. However, with Xianyu reopening secondary digital asset transactions, some speculate that this signals a potential shift in government policy, which could be significant for the overall development of the industry.
Additionally, China Daily, an English-language newspaper under the supervision of the Chinese Communist Party, has invested nearly $400,000 to create its own metaverse platform and NFT Marketplace. In December, the Chinese government announced plans to launch a national NFT trading platform, but there hasn’t been any significant information about it since then.
Regarding Topnod NFT (鲸探), it’s a digital collectibles platform introduced by Ant Group, Alibaba’s financial technology subsidiary, in June 2021. Initially named AntChain Fan Points, it was later rebranded as Topnod (鲸探) in December of the same year.
Users on this platform are not allowed to resell the digital collectibles they’ve purchased on Topnod. Instead, they can only gift them to verified users after holding them for more than 180 days. These collections include artworks, music, historical artifacts from museums, and usually have prices ranging from $3 to $5, with limited quantities ranging from 8,000 to 10,000. The platform uses its own payment system on Alipay, one of mainland China’s major non-cash payment companies. All users must complete real-name identity verification and conduct transactions with fiat currency.
Furthermore, Topnod boasts fast and cost-effective transaction capabilities. A spokesperson for Topnod stated, “Topnod can provide the technical ability to process 100,000 digital collectibles transactions per second during the Spring Festival digital collection campaign in 2022. This leads the blockchain industry of the group.”
However, due to uncertainties in industry regulations, Topnod has faced challenges, resulting in slow sales. Currently, the platform is striving to navigate the legal storm and the overall market context.