McDonald’s China has released its first NFT to mark its 31st anniversary of penetrating the mainland China market and the official opening of its new headquarters building on the west bank of Shanghai. The fast-food chain disclosed this news through a news release earlier today, noting the NFT is titled Big Mac Rubik’s Cube.
According to the news release, the NFT is a 3-D piece of art inspired by the shape of the new headquarters building. Reportedly, Big Mac Rubik’s Cube is the first of 188 similar NFTs that the company seeks to distribute to employees and customers in the form of limited gifts.
The publication further noted that McDonald’s China partnered with Cocafe, a renowned UK-based crypto developer, and Conflux, a high-performance public blockchain platform, to develop the NFT in a design that features non-homogenous proof of rights.
Commenting on this development, CEO Zhang Jiayin said McDonald’s China is a young and trendy brand with a keen interest in fashion trends and cutting-edge technology. Jiayin added that he is over the moon because the firm became the first domestic catering brand to release an NFT.
He added that,
McDonald’s China’s new headquarters building is a brand-new development of McDonald’s China. Milestones. At this special moment, we use the form of NFT to share McDonald’s innovation, digitalization and trend art with employees and consumers.
China’s ban stifles the NFT sector as well
This news comes after China’s central bank, the People’s Bank of China (PBoC) announced a blanket ban on cryptocurrencies, forcing many companies to leave in search of jurisdictions with friendly regulations. With this ban, China effectively banned its citizens from participating in global NFT sales.
While China’s ban did not mention NFTs, NFTs in the rest of the world are closely knit with cryptocurrencies. By banning crypto, China has also prevented its citizens from participating in NFT auctions, seeing as most NFT marketplaces only accept bids in crypto.
According to Jay Si, a Shanghai-based attorney,
If someone wants to develop NFTs in China, they have to be decoupled with overseas cryptocurrencies or even the blockchain infrastructure like Ethereum.
Trying to circumvent this challenge, Chinese companies such as Alibaba and Tencent have embraced alliance chains, a partially decentralized, hybrid blockchain controlled by a select group of members. Although these alliance chains have come in handy by supporting the red-hot NFT space, blockchain enthusiasts feel the entire setup is wrong.
An example is Shi Qi, the founder of Hangzhou-based NFT marketplace firm NFTCN, who said he does not believe NFTs based on alliance chains are not actual NFTs.
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