Tech giant Tencent, too, wants to capitalize on the craze around non-fungible tokens (NFTs). In more detail, the Middle Kingdom’s tech flagship company wants to digitize historical Buddhist artworks on a private blockchain.
Buddhist art highlighted by NFT
Tencent is a Chinese technology company founded in 1998, specializing in internet and mobile services. This company has notably developed the instant messaging application WeChat or the game League of Legends (LOL). Moreover, the FTX exchange recently paid $200 million to have its name attached to that of a popular LOL team, Team SoloMid (TSM).
According to The Block, Tencent announced its partnership with Dunhuang Academy, with the aim of promoting and actively contributing to the protection of China’s cultural heritage. Tencent’s first NFT project is to digitize all the murals and architectural works in the Mogao Caves, which are recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
These caves are composed of 492 temples and contain Buddhist artworks that have survived for 10 centuries. In short, it is the largest and richest collection of Buddhist art.
From a technical perspective, Tencent plans to issue 9,999 NFTs on its own private blockchain Zxinchain. Each NFT will represent one of the paintings in the Mogoa Caves. Users of the WeChat app will be able to try to win one of these NFTs by filling out a questionnaire.
Finally, Tencent will donate a portion of the total sales to the Dunhuang Academy. According to the interview reported by The Block, one of the Chinese company’s representatives said that the donation would be about 4 million yuan, equivalent to more than $500,000.
Chinese regulations tailored to its advantage
Chinese regulations regarding NFT trading in particular have forced Tencent to develop a project that complies in every respect.
To do so, the tech giant set aside public blockchains that would have necessarily involved the use of cryptocurrencies. Moreover, the use of a private blockchain makes it possible to exclude the questions of anonymity, however characteristic of the NFT market. Unquestionably, Tencent wants to “show a clean slate” to the Chinese government.
“Since Tencent publishes it [the NFT] on the primary market, we can’t launch a secondary market ourselves. But even with a secondary market, it will only deal with fiat currency… and we obviously won’t encourage flipping and speculative activities.”
Qin Qing, Product Director at Tencent Blockchain
Thus, holders of Tencent-issued NFTs will not be able to trade theirs on online platforms, such as OpenSea. However, Qin Qing said he is in favor of the idea of creating an exchange market specifically for these NFTs, with the help of possible external partners.
The case of Tencent is not isolated. Indeed, another technology giant, Ant Group (a subsidiary of Alibaba) recently presented its NFT platform based on its private blockchain AntChain.
All things considered, the development of NFTs in China seems to have found a way through the use of private blockchains. However, it remains to be seen whether the Middle Kingdom does not take a dim view of this use in cases where the purpose would be strictly for profit for the company. Indeed, one has to wonder if the Chinese government would not have put a stop to Tencent’s NFT project, if it had been devoid of charitable purposes.
