Baidu, a Chinese multinational tech giant, will be airdropping 20,000 NFTs of cartoon characters, which recipients can use as avatars, beginning today. The non-fungible tokens will feature the likes of “talking Tom Cat”, and “Ali” – a fox character, among others. The NFTs can also be found on Baidu’s blockchain network Super Chain or Xuper Chain.
The talking tom cat character series, as per local Chinese media reports, is made up of 8,888 unique NFTs, which will be available between March 10-12. Whilst Ali, the fox character, will have 3,160 limited avatars as it celebrates his 16th birthday on March 16. Baidu is not new to the NFT-space. The tech firm previously distributed Olympic-themed NFTs in late February.
The crypto sector continues to be vulnerable in China. Reports highlight that the Chinese government has warned against speculation on non-fungible tokens. The Chinese Communist Party-led government wants to control the usage of NFTs in the country. The ruling party’s mouthpiece People’s Daily in November 2021 had published an article questioning NFTs. It called the trend a “zero-sum game hyped by cryptocurrency investors and capital”.
But it should be noted that NFTs’ popularity and adoption continue to soar in China. Daily sales, as per market tracker Nonfungible, were $93 million as of March 9. Alibaba, a Chinese multinational technology company that specializes in e-commerce, in August of 2021 launched the Blockchain Digital Copyright and Asset Trade – an NFT marketplace. As such, NFTs are gaining more traction.
