Chinese non-fungible token (NFT) marketplace iBox announced that it was ending its international operations and will begin issuing refunds in September.
In a statement, iBox did not provide an explanation for the closure, although a video circulating online claims that its international platform had been offering NFTs priced in the stablecoin USDT.
In September 2021, China outlawed all cryptocurrency trading, which caused a massive exodus of cryptocurrency exchanges, miners, and other industry participants.
An incubator program run by the major cryptocurrency exchange Huobi, which debuted in May 2021, had supported iBox.
Huobi distanced itself from iBox in a statement released on Thursday, claiming that it left mainland China in May 2021 and dissolved its partnership with the NFT platform in January 2022.
Huobi Global already stopped conducting business in Mainland China. They want to urge their users to follow local rules and ordinances and to be on the lookout for fraud, it said.
iBox’s activities in mainland China, which use fiat money rather than cryptocurrencies, are still running normally. According to local media, it had daily sales that were more than 100 million yuan ($14.59 million) at its peak.
Contrary to cryptocurrencies, NFTs are still legal in China. Instead, they are referred to as digital collectibles, and state media frequently runs pieces warning the public against purchasing and then reselling them to make quick money.
Governments in the economic powerhouses of Shanghai and Beijing continue to incorporate NFTs in their regional economic development programs in spite of the regulatory ambiguity.
