Chinese Tech Firm Baidu to Airdrop 20,000 NFTs, Set to launch Marketplace

Baidu, one of the largest tech companies in China, is set to airdrop over 20,000 free NFTs ahead of its marketplace launch this late March.

The Chinese tech giant will distribute these NFTs in three rounds, with nostalgic Chinese cartoon characters as the face of these assets.

On March 10 and March 12, 8,888 “Talking Tom Cat” NFTs will be sent to netizens, respectively. Talking Tom Cat is the namesake of the popular talking virtual pet game for kids.

That last round is slated for March 16, coinciding with Ali the Fox’s 16th birthday. In celebration of the famed Chinese cartoon character’s date of birth, 3,160 exclusive Ali NFTs will be given for free.

In a bid to keep up with other Chinese tech bigs, Alibaba and Tencent,  Baidu had also arranged for the launch of its NFT marketplace by the end of March. Alibaba and Tencent had their NFT marketplaces operational since last year.

Baidu’s NFT marketplace will be powered by the company’s native blockchain technology platform called the Super Chain. The NFT marketplace will leverage the blockchain’s technical support to launch a variety of digital collections.

Meanwhile, a Chinese government-aligned newspaper had slammed the NFT hype in an opinion piece, stating it is “definitely not good for the healthy development of NFT.”

“At this moment, all the excessive boasting and exaggeration of the NFT function, as well as the profit-making behaviors that take the opportunity, will have a very unfavorable impact on the development of NFT,” the article added.

Despite the efforts of some entities to limit the NFT hype, reports declare that digital collectibles are still high in demand in second-hand markets.