Chinese tech giants vow to stay clear of speculating NFTs, MIIT pushes for blockchain standards: Blockheads

Chinese tech majors take a stance against trades and speculations against non-fungible tokens (NFTs). Local authorities look for crypto-related activities in an economic development zone in eastern Jiangxi province. China’s high court supports more blockchain tech. China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology pushes to create more blockchain standards. 

NFTs self-regulation

Chinese tech giants Ant Group, Tencent, and JD.com, signed a “self-regulation” convention on NFTs with state organizations on Oct. 31. The tech giants vowed to boycott speculative activities surrounding NFTs, or “digital collectibles,” as they called them. Last week, Ant Group and Tencent stopped using the term “NFTs” to refer to or describe their NFT platforms and products, in an attempt to distance their products from the crypto market. (Coindesk)

Crypto crackdown

An economic development zone in China’s eastern Jiangxi province recently investigated and clamped down on cryptocurrency activities. The zone in Ganzhou city teamed up with the municipal branch of China’s central bank, the city’s economics and financial office, the zone’s Public Security Bureau, and other entities as part of the move. The group went into two areas in the zone — Hengke Industrial Park and International Enterprise Center (our translation) — to check companies’ offices, business licenses, and business activities for crypto-related activity. (Ganzhou economic development zone committee, in Chinese)

Blockchain fans

• China’s highest court emphasized its support for implementing more modern technology in the country’s judicial system at a Monday meeting. The court declared that it supports the use of the internet, AI, big data, cloud computing, blockchain, and 5G and that it hopes to use such technologies to build “smart courts.” (Jiemian, in Chinese)

• China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) is pushing to introduce more industry-wide blockchain standards. The Blockchain Standards Committee at MIIT said it will play a guiding role in drawing up the standards. The head of the committee, Wang Zhijun, said at an Oct. 29 meeting that the goal was to establish itself as the authority in the standardization of blockchains in China and win more respect from the international community. (CNII, in Chinese)