China regulator says NFT-related complaints skyrocketed in 2022

NFT

Amid the hype round non-fungible tokens (NFTs) in 2022, consumers in China flooded the nation’s predominant regulator with complaints about scams and worth manipulation, with official complaints surging 30,000% to 59,700 from 198 in 2021. The report on NFTs comes a day earlier than the World Client Rights Day in China.

See associated article: China’s diktat towards NFT flipping spawns an ingenious trade

Quick info

• Most complaints concerned failure to obtain objects after buy, refund points, worth manipulation, and excessive transaction charges, in line with a report on the social media account of the State Administration for Market Regulation on Tuesday.
• The report precedes World Client Rights Day on March 15, an annual occasion the place China’s media and authorities single out circumstances of market abuse. On the occasion final yr, China’s watchdogs reported a number of cryptocurrency-related scams.
• Regardless of China’s ban on cryptocurrency buying and selling, transactions in NFTs or digital collectibles are a grey space. State media and regulators criticise the monetary dangers posed by NFTs, whereas corporations and coverage makers attempt to faucet the financial potential of the brand new asset class.
• In consequence, China’s home NFT market is basically self regulated by the trade, which forbids secondary buying and selling, whilst an underground trade of NFT speculators develops on the identical time.
• The authorities’ exhausting stance on NFT buying and selling has taken its toll on the trade. Huanhe, the regulated NFT market of China’s tech large Tecent Holdings, will shut in June and has began refunding its customers, in line with Huanhe’s cell app on March 9. There are additionally Chinese language NFT platforms transferring their companies to Hong Kong over compliance considerations.
• The shortage of regulatory readability drew the eye of the nation’s Two Periods authorities conferences throughout March 4-13, with a Chinese language parliament member proposing the institution of a authorized definition for digital collectibles and a regulatory framework for the trade.

See associated article: China’s parliament member to suggest NFT regulation at ‘Two Periods’