China Daily Newspaper Mulls Metaverse and NFT Marketplace Launch - Here's The Latest

China Daily, a prominent English-language newspaper owned by the Publicity Department of the Chinese Communist Party, has allocated a substantial 2.813 million Yuan ($390,000) to build its own metaverse and a non-fungible tokens (NFT) platform.

China Daily has called for a public tender, seeking bidders to respond before October 17. The media outlet has called for a third-party contractor, both domestic and international blockchain firms, to develop the marketplace.

The “qualified bidder” must possess the capacity to handle more than 10,000 transactions per second, China Daily said in a document. Selected contractors will have 3months time to bring the platform live.

Further, once the form of the digital collectibles is confirmed, “a single digital collection must be developed and launched for online distribution and promotion within one month,” a translated document read.

China Daily NFT marketplace aims to support multimedia and other types of collections, including pricing and bidding, limited-time features and multiple currency support for settlements to ensure a reliable and robust experience.

Project Has Four Key Aspects

According to the announcement, the project would include four key service components including

1.    The construction of China Daily’s “Digital Collection Issuance Platform,”

2.    Domestic and international creative development and promotion of NFT digital collectibles,

3.    Fostering the development and promotion of AR and VR content and

4.    The conceptualization, development, and promotion of creative spaces within the metaverse.

The project stressed that it does not accept joint bids and companies must apply individually to be considered.

The ambitious plan comes at a time when global interest in these nascent technologies is on the rise. A report from blockchain analytics firm Nansen predicted an $80 million market capitalization by 2025 and rapid growth of the NFT market.

China Daily’s initiative highlights the relevance of the metaverse and NFTs in shaping the future of journalism and content.