Tencent-Led NFT Project Gets Green Signal From the United Nations

The United Nations agency for communication technologies has approved a non-fungible token (NFT) technical framework led by Tencent Holdings.

First UN-Approved Standards Initiative on NFTs

The initiative is supposedly the first UN-approved standards project for NFTs, a Chinese media reported. The project is also supported by Ant Group and other major players.

The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) has given a green signal to the project dubbed “technical framework for digital collection services based on blockchain”. In China, NFTs are widely known as “digital collectibles” to avoid criticisms surrounding the burgeoning crypto niche NFTs.

“The international standard will standardize the technical architecture, technical process, functional requirements, and security requirements of blockchain-based digital collection services,” the report read.

The Chinese entertainment giant Tencent told the South China Morning Post, that it expects to complete the first draft of the project by the end of 2022.

The project is supported by other major universities including the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology, Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications, and Zhejiang Laboratory.

China’s NFT Frenzy

NFTs have become a regular victim of criticism in the country. Last September, Securities Times, a Chinese daily, published an opinion piece, criticizing NFTs as “hypes.”

The article said NFTs are a “huge bubble,” citing examples of Justin Sun’s NFT purchase of a digital avatar for US$10.5 million and the price of NFT work Beeple. It suggested that NFTs should serve the “real economy” by tokenizing actual assets.

Meanwhile, Chinese tech giants such as Alibaba are tapping the NFT craze such as the launch of NFT moon cake – a snack to celebrate the Chinese autumn fest. Alipay, on the other hand, sold a total of 160,000 NFT artworks.

Last month, the state-backed Blockchain Services Network (BSN) said it is preparing infrastructure for NFT-like digital collectibles. The platform said it will not be interoperable with NFTs created on Ethereum or Solana public blockchains, and will not accept cryptos as payments.

This is because, given the Chinese government’s stance on cryptos, tech giants and other Chinese firms are playing it safe on NFTs thus far.