China Roundup: Alibaba, Tencent rebrand NFT products, and more

Alibaba, Tencent rebrand NFT products amid tech crackdown

• Alipay, Alibaba’s payments arm, and Huanhe, Tencent’s non-fungible token (NFT) platform, have rebranded their artwork offerings as “digital collectibles.”
• The change in name comes amid a government campaign against the trading and mining of blockchain-based cryptocurrencies.
• Huanhe, which was once regarded as the first NFT trading marketplace in China, said it now requires users to use their real names on the platform.

IPhone assembler Foxconn in talks with Indonesia to invest in EVs

• Hon Hai Technology Group, the parent firm of Foxconn, said its chairman Liu Yangwei is in talks with the Indonesian government regarding investments in the country’s electric vehicle (EV) and battery space.
• The discussion also involved Horace Luke, the founder of Gogoro, a Taiwan-based battery swap provider.
• Yangwei added that his company plans to set up EV plants in Europe, India, and South America before 2024.

Edtech firm New Oriental shuts down K-9 tutoring service

• New Oriental said it will stop providing online tutoring services through Koolearn Tech, which offers courses for K-9 students in mainland China.
• It cited the country’s new regulations on private education as the cause of the closure.
• New Oriental expects the termination of the off-campus training unit to have a “significant adverse impact” on the total revenue of the group for the financial year ended May 31, 2022 and subsequent periods.