China NFT platforms expand into Hong Kong in face of compliance risks on mainland
- China banned cryptocurrency transactions in 2021, but Hong Kong has set up a new licensing regime that may eventually extend to retail crypto trading
- ShucangCN and NFT China officials said they aim to generate a combined 50 million yuan in revenue for 2023, compared to 2022’s 30 million yuan
Non-fungible token (NFT) platforms in China are expanding into Hong Kong to offset compliance risk for an industry that remains in a legal grey area on the mainland. It helps that the city has thrown out a welcome mat for digital asset industries.
ShucangCN, an NFT platform that launched in January 2022 in China to quickly become one of the largest players, has set up NFT China Ltd, a decision its chief executive officer said he made after the territory released cryptocurrency-friendly policy documents in October.
“We’re in the process of launching a simple NFT platform in Hong Kong in about two weeks that can facilitate NFT airdrops,” said Pengfei Wang, CEO of ShucangCN. Sales and trading features will follow when the team sets up payment routes, he said.
Yifan He, chief of Red Date Technology, the developer of the state-backed blockchain infrastructure Blockchain-based Service Network, said that mainland clients who built NFT platforms on BSN plan moves to Hong Kong, and “they’re discussing with our Hong Kong team to build their platforms there”.
