According to reports, Wuhan in China has postponed its aspirational nonfungible tokens (NFTs) ambitions due to the country’s growing regulatory unpredictability towards crypto and Web3 technology.
After the coronavirus outbreak, Wuhan first declared its intention to embrace metaverse and NFTs as a way to revive its devastated economy. The COVID-19 breakout was centered in the city.
A section on NFTs was included in the Wuhan government’s draft industrial strategy for the growth of the city’s metaverse economy. But today, the South China Morning Post reports, that portion has been removed from the most recent version. The amended version still urges companies to concentrate on decentralized technology and Web3, but NFTs are not included in the study, it was noticed.
By 2025, Wuhan hopes to support more than 200 metaverse businesses and establish at least two metaverse industrial parks, according to the recently amended plan.
Looking at the amended text, it appears that the Chinese government has eliminated anything that pertains to the trading of tokens or digital assets. As government development plans have embraced technologies related to the metaverse throughout the years, the position has become more and more evident. For instance, plans for metaverse innovation have been proposed in various Chinese cities, including the capital Beijing and Shanghai, yet any private companies or IT behemoths engaged in NFTs have encountered government hostility.
China attempted to distinguish NFTs from cryptocurrencies at the beginning of the year in an effort to support the development of the emerging sector despite a total ban on the latter. As a result, there was a spike in interest among Chinese communities. During COVID lockdowns, the NFT marketplace Opensea was inundated with listings from Shanghai.
However, as NFT trading became more popular, fraudulent activity also increased, prompting many regulatory cautions to investors.
China was extremely explicit about its position on the usage of cryptocurrencies there and, after years of different limitations, enacted a complete ban in 2021. However, the government’s position on cutting-edge Web3, particularly those that include the trading of tokens or digital collectibles, or NFTs
