Tencent will shut down Huanhe, a digital collection trading platform, Jiemian News reported citing sources.
Huanhe reportedly started out as a non-fungible token (NFT) trading platform. In October 2021, the platform replaced mentions of NFT with “digital collection” – similar to the switch made by several Chinese tech firms, Pandaily reported.
Last week Tencent News announced it was scrapping its NFT-trading feature in response to Beijing’s move to restrict the securitization of tokens and their use in cryptocurrencies, which are already banned in the country.
Tencent is among the top Chinese tech firms that pledged to stop secondary NFT trading. Other firms that have promised to do the same are Ant Group, Baidu, and JD.com.
The move is likely to further accelerate a decline in NFT trading triggered by the so-called “crypto winter.” NFT trading volumes shrank 75% from May to June – from US$4 billion to US$1 billion – according to a Coincu report. Volumes had peaked at US$16 billion in January.
See also: Tencent’s gameplay in a sea of troubles
Editing by Miguel Cordon and Arpit Nayak
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