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NFTs
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Tencent’s WeChat bans public accounts from providing secondary trading services for NFTs

  • Tencent says it will punish public accounts that provide transaction channels, guidance, or issue cryptocurrencies
  • Tencent is acting preemptively to keep itself out of trouble, Trivium China analyst Bao Linghao says

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Tencent’s WeChat has introduced rules banning public accounts from offering secondary trading services for NFTs. Photo: Reuters
Yaling Jiang
WeChat, the ubiquitous super app operated by Tencent Holdings, is introducing a rule to ban secondary trading of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) on the platform, heeding Chinese regulators’ guidelines to steer clear of the financial aspect of such digital assets.

Tencent said it will “order accounts to rectify if they provide relevant services or content for secondary trading of digital collectibles, and limit some features or even ban the account”, depending on the severity of the cases.

The Chinese tech giant also detailed punishment for accounts that provide transaction channels, provide guidance, or issue cryptocurrencies to users. Accounts that enable initial coin offerings and transactions of cryptocurrency derivatives will also come under its purview.

“Tencent is acting preemptively to keep itself out of trouble,” said Bao Linghao, a senior analyst at research firm Trivium China. “There are no formal regulations on NFT trading yet, but Chinese regulators don’t like speculation of any kind, including NFTs.”
Tencent Holdings’ WeChat has 1.3 billion monthly active users. Photo: Bloomberg
Tencent Holdings’ WeChat has 1.3 billion monthly active users. Photo: Bloomberg
In April, Chinese financial institutions were asked to stay clear of NFTs, prohibiting its use in securities, insurance, loans and precious metals, further restricting the digital assets’ financial scope. Domestic brokerage Guosheng Securities pointed out in the same month that China was likely to introduce a centralised secondary trading platform for NFTs.

NFTs are often referred to as digital collectibles in China. China’s digital collectibles are built on consortium blockchains, which is a form of blockchain that can be centrally controlled, different from open blockchains such as ethereum. Moreover, digital collectibles must be bought using Chinese yuan under real identities to “avoid money laundering”, the April guidelines said.

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