The Chinese government, known for its hostile attitude towards the cryptocurrency industry, announced on November 10th that criminal penalties will be imposed for illegal activities in the NFT sector. The announcement presented three opinions on the classification of the crime of theft in NFT collections.
Notable Details in the Announcement
In the announcement shared with the public by the Chinese government, the first two crimes among the published offenses were classified as data or crypto property. However, it was stated in the announcement that this process will be defined as organized crimes in the third type of crime that sees NFT collections as both data and crypto property.
According to the announcement, in a theft crime that may occur in the NFT sector, it was stated that this crime involves unauthorized entry into the system and illegally obtaining computer data system data, and the crime of theft is also committed:
“The theft incidents in NFT collections violate the protection law and interests of the crime of obtaining computer data system data illegally.”
By referring to NFT collections as “crypto property” and emphasizing that collections should be recognized as property through criminal law, this issue was detailed in the report:
“Since ownership is the object of the crime of ownership, NFT collections can clearly become the object of the crime of ownership. If an NFT collection is stolen by unauthorized entry into the system or other technical means, this act also harms property law.”
Green Light for NFTs from the Chinese Government
In the announcement, it was stated that although China has not yet opened a marketplace for NFT collections, consumers can carry out transactions on trading platforms to obtain private ownership, usage, disposal abilities, and complete other operations such as purchase, collection, transfer, and destruction.
Since 2021, the Chinese government has officially banned almost all crypto-related activities and transactions except for owning cryptocurrency units. However, a recent claim has emerged regarding NFTs. A local press channel in China reported on October 25th that Alibaba’s marketplace Xianyu has lifted the censorship on NFTs and crypto assets applied to keywords in its search.
