Tencent receives UN approval to create NFT security standards

The project is the first UN-approved initiative to create standards for NFTs

Chinese multinational technology and entertainment conglomerate Tencent has received the approval of the United Nations for the “Technical Framework for Digital Collection Services Based on Blockchain", a project aimed at creating a security framework and technical standards for Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs).

State-owned local media reported earlier this week that the first of its kind project was proposed jointly by Tencent and Ant Group, China Academy of Information and Communications Technology, Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications, Zhejiang Laboratory and other industry, university and research institutions.

The project is expected to complete an initial draft by 2022.  It is currently the world’s only UN-approved initiative to explore the creation of global standards for NFTs.

The approval was given by the International Telecommunication Union, the UN’s agency for information and communication technologies (ITU). Any recommendations by the ITU can become mandatory and enforceable if a country adopts them as a law.

“The international standard aims to specify the technical architecture, technical flows, functional requirements, and security requirements for blockchain-based digital collectables,” Tencent stated in a press release.

The project will play a crucial role in driving a global consensus and common understanding on the formation of a technical framework for digital collection services, the company added.

Tencent boasts of rich practical experience in the blockchain and digital collectables space.

Last year, the company’s Zhixin Chain team led a project that launched the “Meta Commodity Agreement”, a complaint and open digital collections technology that allows businesses to build their own digital collectables. The team has also successfully supported the implementation of 30+ digital collection projects within just 6 months of its launch.

In China, NFTs are called digital collectables to avoid getting caught up in the anti-crypto government and media sentiment. Creators avoid Ethereum or the Solana blockchain and choose to generate their NFTs on permissioned blockchains.

However, despite the critical attitude towards crypto, the Chinese government has been keen on exploring alternative use cases for blockchain technology.