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Image Source: Visual China

BEIJING, July 19 (TMTPost) – Chinese tech giant Tencent is reportedly planning to shut down the operation of its NFT (non-fungible token) trading platform Huanhe this week.

Insiders at Tencent have confirmed the matter to Yicai, saying that news of the adjustment has been communicated to Huanhe’s team. Tencent has not offered any official response to the news report.

Tencent said in an internal notice on May 23 that He Yi was appointed as the director of Tencent’s news business while the original director Wang Shimu will be responsible for Tencent’s PCG line. Wang was tasked with incubating new businesses including Huanhe. Earlier on July 1, Tencent’s news app, which is connected to Huanhe’s business, announced that it would suspsend the trading service of digital collectible, or NFT.

Huanhe is an NFT trading platform launched by Tencent. The platform is based on Zhi Xin Chain, an open blockchain platform rolled out by Tencent and its external partners. The platform is based on the open-sourced ChainMaker.

A non-fungible token is a financial security consisting of digital data stored in a blockchain, a form of distributed ledger. The ownership of an NFT is recorded in the blockchain, and can be transferred by the owner, allowing NFTs to be sold and traded. It has become a common technological use in the art and fashion industry, gaining immense popularity in the art collection market and among investors.

It is worth noting that Huanhe adjusted the display of “NFT” to “digital collection” on its platform since March 22, 2022. The platform also forbids secondary trading, which means buyers of digital collections are not allowed to sell their collections out again for profit.

On the Huanhe app, all digital collection are all sold out. Users can still visit augmented reality art exhibitions. A report from state-owned media Yicai Global, citing an unnamed source at Tencent, said trading halted at the beginning of the month in anticipation of a crackdown.