Tencent-backed online literature platform the latest Chinese firm to jump on NFT bandwagon
- The platform is built on COL’s extensive digital library, numbering more than 5.1 million assets covering animation, drama, novels and games
- Similar to other so-called digital collectible platforms in China, the Fifth Prism app is only available to those 18 years or older who reside on the Chinese mainland
An online publishing company backed by gaming and social media giant Tencent Holdings has launched a “digital collectibles” platform, becoming the latest Chinese firm to embrace non-fungible tokens (NFTs) even though the cryptocurrencies required to purchase them are banned in China.
COL Digital Publishing Group, in which Tencent owns a 10 per cent stake, said it launched a platform called “the Fifth Prism”, with the first batch of digital collectibles – 500 free copies of a copper badge based on the app’s logo – taken within two minutes of their release on Monday.
The app “requires users to register with real identity and only accepts renminbi”, COL said in a filing to the Shenzhen Stock Exchange.
Besides the badge, it listed seven other NFTs priced between 68 yuan (US$10) and 198 yuan, to be released within three days.
The platform, which went live on Sunday, is built on COL’s extensive digital library, numbering more than 5.1 million assets covering animation, drama, novels and games. Audio content alone consists of more than 450,000 hours of material, the company said.
COL will share the revenue with NFT creators based on the split agreed to in their contracts. For COL-owned works, the company will not share revenue, it said.
Shares of COL, listed on the Nasdaq-style ChiNext market, rose as much as 4.2 per cent to 10.89 yuan on Monday morning.