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  • #55 | China Protects NFTs As "Virtual Property"

#55 | China Protects NFTs As "Virtual Property"

The latest in NFT developments from Chinas court of law ruling on NFTs, Nikes RTFKT iRL Cryptokicks, and Starbucks Odyssey NFT loyalty program

AuthorAuthor

BuckyGang 💫 & subvert 😸
December 12, 2022

Estimated Read Time: 6 mins

Hey friends,

Welcome back to another epic round-up of NFT news! We've got some great news coming out of China, continued stories from brands like Nike and Starbucks pioneering our transition to Web3, as well as some juicy 'What's the NFTea?' at the end. Without further ado, let's jump into it!

Chinese Court Protects NFTs By Law

China has always had a rocky relationship with blockchain and cryptocurrencies; the threat of decentralization has been a challenge for establishments like the Chinese Goverment, leading to actions like the central bank banning all crypto transactions last year. Despite this, in yet another win for the progression of NFTs as a technology, the Chinese court of law ruled that NFTs are virtual property that must be protected.

The court stated that NFT collections have the characteristics of property rights such as value, scarcity, controllability, and readability, while also possessing "unique attributes of network virtual property." The ruling came from a court case between a customer and their unfulfilled purchase of an NFT collection from a platform. Although the customer's claim was ultimately rejected because of inaccurate information in the order, the dispute raised a critical conversation around NFTs.

The NFTs in question contained artistic expressions and hence have value through its intellectual property. As per the court's statement, "NFT digital collections belong to the category of virtual property… different from tangible or intangible objects in general sales contracts… NFT collections, a new type of online virtual property, should be protected by the laws of our country as the object of transactions between the two parties".

It is worth mentioning the court noted that for legal attributes of NFT collections, the Chinese law "currently does not clearly stipulate them", but due to the digital nature of NFTs, they are also equal to e-commerce activities regulated by Chinese e-commerce Law. It's very evident that NFTs have tended to attract negative mainstream attention, but stories like this where a country arguably as restrictive as China have stepped up to defend the rights and value of NFTs as “virtual property”, it's hard to get a more positive story for the long term progression of this new technology.

Nike Releases Phygital Sneaker Collection

Nike has been a recurring brand in our newsletters with the household name continuing to push the boundaries of Web3 and NFTs. Recently, they gave us a sneak peek at the future of fashion by launching an NFT virtual apparel store; staying on theme, we now see their first physical-digital (phygital) sneaker collection launched with Nike-owned NFT sneaker studio RTFKT. The Cryptokicks IRL collection is limited to 19,000 sneakers and will be sold as NFT collectibles with technology-laden physical counterparts in four color combinations, including self-lacing technology and chips that will enable wear-to-earn activations later on.

“It’s basically RTFKT’s smart watch in a sneaker… In terms of functionality, they have accelerometers, auto-lacing, and lighting. They have anything you can imagine a shoe can have in terms of haptics and vibration. For us, we’re using them as a tool to merge worlds.”

Steven Vasilev, RTFKT Co-founder

The public mint on Dec 14th for these sneakers is an excellent opportunity for RTFKT to onboard sneakerheads into Web3, although they won't be cheap with prices expected to range from $450 to $1300. This “first Web3-native sneaker” is a critical milestone in bridging the digital and physical worlds that we all simultaneously live in — as the internet evolves into Web3, the concept of owning/wearing direct digital versions of your IRL items will be commonplace, and we are only now just seeing the tip of the iceberg with Nike's first phygital shoe. What a time to be alive!

Starbucks Starts Beta-Testing Web3 Loyalty Program

Back in September, we covered Starbucks' teaser for migrating their loyalty program for 40 million daily customers over to Web3 through NFTs. Now the goliath coffee chain has opened up beta testing of this new experience to select waitlist members. This new Starbucks Odyssey blockchain-powered loyalty program is giving access to new benefits and immersive coffee experiences where selected participants can interact with activities called ‘Journeys’ via the Starbucks rewards program.

Initially, this branch of the loyalty program will include journeys that range from virtual tours of coffee farms, to trivia about Starbucks heritage, on completion members earn “Journey Stamps” as Polygon NFTs as well as Odyssey loyalty points that unlock even more benefits.

"Starbucks Rewards members are some of our most loyal and engaged customers, and Starbucks Odyssey is our next big innovation in loyalty to recognize, surprise and delight them… We are leveraging Web3 technology to reward and connect with our members in new ways, such as offering collectible, ownable digital stamps, a new digital community, and opening access to new benefits and immersive coffee experiences – both physically and digitally”

Brady Brewer, Chief Marketing Officer at Starbucks

The program will be partnering with NFT platform Nifty Gateway to help smoothen the experience of onboarding this new customer base into Web3 where participants will not require crypto wallets, and any extra “Limited-Edition Stamps” can be purchasable through a debit/credit card. Approximately 28.6 million wallets owned NFTs at the start of the year, so with over 40 million daily customers worldwide, it puts into scope the extent that brands like Starbucks have on progressing NFTs and Web3 toward mainstream adoption.

We hope you enjoyed this latest edition of Morning NFTea! These multinational entities continuing development in Web3 are an important example of why we shouldn't emphasize this current bear market, and instead should focus on the future that these brands are looking to leverage. Have a great couple of days and take care!

What's the NFTea?

It's a bear market, but there have been signs of recovery lately that have emboldened projects like Valhalla, KPRverse and JUUNI to launch mints successfully. On the other hand, we have projects like OwangeNFT that have fizzled out due to a lack of demand.

A few days ago, we got this announcement from Nanoverse, famous for their Project PXN launch:

The market was not happy about it — check the replies.

The following tweet from KaijuKingz partnership manager Maverick sums up the situation very well:

The main issue that Nanoverse has to address is: as cool as their new rigged characters are, what are their upcoming plans for them and how do they tie into all their previous offerings? The market will respond accordingly if they can make a case for all of the above and justify the mint price valuation of 0.195.

What do you think of the situation? Tweet at us @MorningNFTea to let us know!

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DISCLAIMER:

None of this is financial advice. This newsletter is strictly educational and is not investment advice or a solicitation to buy or sell any assets or to make any financial decisions. Please be careful and do your own research.