25/06/2021 Chinese Payment Giant Alipay Launches NFT Sales
Key Takeaways
Alipay launched two limited-edition NFTs on its private blockchain project called AntChain.
The NFTs were did not involve any cryptocurrency, and were sold using fiat money.
Using private blockchains to issue NFTs raises concerns over their value and long-term provenance.
China’s largest digital payment platform, Alipay, sold non-fungible tokens (NFTs) on its own permissioned blockchain service network called AntChain.
NFTs Issued on AntChain
According to reports, Alipay, an affiliate of China’s e-commerce giant Alibaba, launched 8000 limited-edition NFTs based on two pieces of artwork to commemorate the ancient artwork of Dunhuang Caves.
The artwork featured flying “apsaras” or spirits along with sacred deer from the Caves of the Thousand Buddhas, or Mogao Cave, in the Chinese city of Dunhuang.
Each NFT is limited to 8,000 copies and was issued on AntChain, a private blockchain started by Alipay’s parent company Ant Group.
Valued at $200 billion, Ant Group is one of the largest financial companies in the world. The firm is also a leader when it comes to research work in the blockchain space. According to available data, Ant Group has filed the highest number of blockchain-based patents between 2017 and 2020.
Now the company has entered the fast-growing NFT market. Over the last year, NFTs have exploded in popularity. Many digital artists, celebrities, musicians and athletes have launched digital collectibles in the form of NFTs celebrate their work with fans.
Explosive Growth in Non-Fungible Tokens
NFTs represent ownership of unique digital collectibles by recording them on a public blockchain like Ethereum. Since most NFTs today are minted on Ethereum, they are traded with ETH, the native cryptocurrency of the blockchain.
This puts Ethereum-backed NFTs in direct contradiction with Chinese restrictions on cryptocurrency trading and crypto-based fundraising. Unlike blockchains like Bitcoin or Ethereum, private blockchains grant a single entity authority over the entire network.
Because of their highly centralized nature, private blockchains do not involve the use of any cryptocurrency. For instance, Alipay sold each of its NFT for 9.9 Renminbi (RMB), plus 10 Alipay credits.
At the same time, using private blockchains to issue NFTs may raise concerns over their provenance and real value. However, these concerns didn’t stop Alipay’s Dunhuang-based NFTs from selling out within 24 hours of release.
The team behind AntChain also recently signed a five-year partnership with The Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) to use the blockchain in football. For instance, the Top Scorer trophy for EURO 2020 uses AntChain to permanently honor the player’s stats.
AntChain says its blockchain service has been deployed across over 50 businesses, in areas like supply chain management, finance, banking, and cross-border payments.
Alipay launched two limited-edition NFTs on its private blockchain project called AntChain.
The NFTs were did not involve any cryptocurrency, and were sold using fiat money.
Using private blockchains to issue NFTs raises concerns over their value and long-term provenance.
China’s largest digital payment platform, Alipay, sold non-fungible tokens (NFTs) on its own permissioned blockchain service network called AntChain.
NFTs Issued on AntChain
According to reports, Alipay, an affiliate of China’s e-commerce giant Alibaba, launched 8000 limited-edition NFTs based on two pieces of artwork to commemorate the ancient artwork of Dunhuang Caves.
The artwork featured flying “apsaras” or spirits along with sacred deer from the Caves of the Thousand Buddhas, or Mogao Cave, in the Chinese city of Dunhuang.
Each NFT is limited to 8,000 copies and was issued on AntChain, a private blockchain started by Alipay’s parent company Ant Group.
Valued at $200 billion, Ant Group is one of the largest financial companies in the world. The firm is also a leader when it comes to research work in the blockchain space. According to available data, Ant Group has filed the highest number of blockchain-based patents between 2017 and 2020.
Now the company has entered the fast-growing NFT market. Over the last year, NFTs have exploded in popularity. Many digital artists, celebrities, musicians and athletes have launched digital collectibles in the form of NFTs celebrate their work with fans.
Explosive Growth in Non-Fungible Tokens
NFTs represent ownership of unique digital collectibles by recording them on a public blockchain like Ethereum. Since most NFTs today are minted on Ethereum, they are traded with ETH, the native cryptocurrency of the blockchain.
This puts Ethereum-backed NFTs in direct contradiction with Chinese restrictions on cryptocurrency trading and crypto-based fundraising. Unlike blockchains like Bitcoin or Ethereum, private blockchains grant a single entity authority over the entire network.
Because of their highly centralized nature, private blockchains do not involve the use of any cryptocurrency. For instance, Alipay sold each of its NFT for 9.9 Renminbi (RMB), plus 10 Alipay credits.
At the same time, using private blockchains to issue NFTs may raise concerns over their provenance and real value. However, these concerns didn’t stop Alipay’s Dunhuang-based NFTs from selling out within 24 hours of release.
The team behind AntChain also recently signed a five-year partnership with The Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) to use the blockchain in football. For instance, the Top Scorer trophy for EURO 2020 uses AntChain to permanently honor the player’s stats.
AntChain says its blockchain service has been deployed across over 50 businesses, in areas like supply chain management, finance, banking, and cross-border payments.
Arts
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https://cryptobriefing.com/chinese-payment-giant-alipay-launches-nft-sales/
Interesting NFTs
The Scion
A young figure caught in a moment of distraction, aware only ephemerally of his unconscious being, as it engages in psychological and psychedelic layer spaces. His right arm casually cradles a moray eel; the figure is comfortable but not truly aware of the potentials for danger in such negligence. His shirt reads “Bello” in Pokemon style font, harkening back to a childhood straddling the millennial threshold. To his right side, out of the unconscious deep, shrouded alien heads propagate as a fractal totem, each new iteration a more sophisticated rendering of emotional masking over the cold mystery of the greys.
As the scion of the Budgie-Sattva, the young man, in his distraction, is also simultaneously aware of higher levels of self discovery. To his left a psychological topology sets beneath the oracle side of an 8 ball ,hovering; its message a purest concept of acceptance. The “Scion” lettering is in 80’s HeMan style bold declaration. The lower right side of the painting is like a hybrid of melon, feathers, and seeds. The crystals in the background bring light; conducted, refracted, reflected, and dispersed, to balance the dark shadow of the figure’s physical body.
The aura of the scion succeeds in layers to point, with a finger, and the crown chakra, toward a center of a mandala existing as nigh pure application of strokes, in essence painterly abstraction, but also revealing hints of the Aura of migraine, and the bi-hemispherical nature of the brain–noting concerns of the possibility of inherited mental disease. Yet the flourish of chakra as it sets against that center is robust, active, coherent, and reveling against all fear.
Fundamentally, the piece speaks to the activation of one’s potential to begin to “Know Thyself”, and find greater awareness out of the enigmas of the mind–as an inculcated seed given to the rich soil of one’s own birthright.
Hairy
hairy by Steve Aoki x Antoni Tudisco. Comes with Infinite Objects screen!
CryptoKitties
Sup playa! I'm Kitty #450376. I'm a professional Dispensary Clerk and I love salad. When I'm not watching reality tv, I'm riverdancing! I think you'll love me beclaws I have cattitude.
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Young Vitalik takes on the role of Picasso’s son Paulo dressed as Harlequin in this artwork but the octahedron Ethereum logo replaces the chequered pattern of the original jester outfit. Leaning against a large chair, the boy genius fiddles with his fingers in a somewhat nervous manner; nevertheless, he stares directly at the viewer with what appears to be a confident, ‘Mona Lisa-like’ smile. Vitalik has no idea what the future has in store for him, but he’s prepared to face any obstacle ahead as he begins life's adventure.
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