Alipay, China’s biggest third-party payment app, has started selling non-fungible token artwork, finding buyers for a combined 8,000 editions of two artworks within one day. 

Fast facts:

  • The first batch of NFT art unveiled by Alipay consisted of images of flying apsaras and sacred deer from the Caves of the Thousand Buddhas, or Mogao Cave, in the Chinese city of Dunhuang. 
  • Buyers were able to purchase the artworks using 10 Alipay points plus CNY9.90 (US$1.53). Other currencies were not accepted.
  • The NFT art is powered by Ant Chain, Ant Group’s homegrown blockchain platform. Founded in 2015, Ant Chain’s flagship products include Ant Financial’s blockchain-as-a-service cloud service platform and OpenChain, a hybrid permissionless/permissioned chain for developers building dApps.
  • Alipay will release a second combined batch of 8,000 editions of two artworks from Scissor Seven, a Chinese animation series, tomorrow.