Baidu to Launch NFT Marketplace, Plans to Airdrop 20,000 Tokens

Chinese tech giant Baidu is the latest to launch a non-fungible token (NFT) marketplace with additional plans of airdropping over 20,000 NFTs. The multinational company will be airdropping NFTs inspired by “Talking Tom Cat” and “Ali,” which were popular cartoon characters in the 2010s, beginning on March 10 ahead of its upcoming marketplace launch by the end of the month. According to local media reports, the “talking tom cat” series will comprise of 8,888 unique NFTs that will be available to claim between March 10 and 12. The translated report further added that the well-known Fox cartoon character “Ali” celebrates his 16th birthday on March 16 on the occasion of which 3,160 NFT avatars will be released in celebration of the event. Users can search for the new collection on Baidu’s “Super Chain” or “Xuper Chain,” the company’s own blockchain network. Connecting the Baidu app will enable users to receive them on the given date. NFTs in Crypto-Less China Although China has closed itself to cryptocurrencies, a digital yuan is already in circulation. On the NFT front, Alibaba and Tencent each released a platform to trade NFTs in August, cautiously renamed “digital collectibles” in October. Baidu is not alone with its NFT plans as Chinese telecoms giant Tencent too launched its own NFT marketplace last year. In August 2021, the platform promoted the launch by issuing 300 NFTs styled as vinyl records based on the popular Tencent-d...