Secondary NFT trading is also covered under the policy, as the firm specifies that “accounts that provide services or material connected to the secondary transaction of digital collections shall also be dealt with.”
WeChat, China’s most popular social media platform, has revised its policy to prohibit accounts that allow access to crypto or nonfungible token (NFT)-related services.
Accounts involved in the issue, trading, and financing of crypto and NFTs will be restricted or prohibited under the new standards, falling under the category of “illegal activity.”
Secondary NFT trading is also covered by the policy, with the corporation adding that “accounts that provide services or material linked to the secondary transaction of digital collections shall also be dealt with in accordance with this article.”
On Monday, Hong Kong-based crypto news writer Wu Blockchain (Colin Wu) emphasized the significance of the action, noting that WeChat has more than 1.1 billion daily users in China.
WeChat with more than 1.1 billion daily active users in China, has updated its rules: WeChat public accounts which involved in the issuance, trading and financing of crypto and NFTs will be limited function or banned. https://t.co/0I9oMrvFTp pic.twitter.com/mzclYjFZNg
— Wu Blockchain (@WuBlockchain) June 20, 2022
According to the new policy, “after such breaches are identified, the WeChat public platform will, depending on the severity of the violations, instruct the violating official accounts to rectify within a time limit and restrict various features of the account until the permanent account is banned.”
Between May and September of last year, the Chinese government implemented a phased ban on the local crypto sector. However, considering the time of the newest WeChat policy amendment, it could imply that the platform has been ignoring certain bitcoin activity since then.
Furthermore, because the assets can be purchased in fiat, there is still a regulatory gray area in the country regarding NFTs. Nonetheless, firms and platforms often prohibit secondary trading in order to prevent any regulatory difficulties related to the financialization of technology.
The China Banking Association, the China Internet Finance Association, and the Securities Association of China issued a joint statement in April warning the public about the “hidden risks” of investing in the assets.
Popular platforms like as WeChat and Ant group-owned WhaleTalk have reportedly been eliminating or banning NFT platforms from their networks since March due to a lack of legislative clarity and a fear of a crackdown from Beijing.
Despite this, a Thursday local media story highlighted data revealing that the number of digital collecting platforms in China has increased to over 500, a five-fold increase since February 2022.
