At a time when the concept of the metaverse is on fire, the digital collection is hot and crazy.
Alibaba, Tencent, JD.com, Baidu, Visual China, Mango TV and other capitals have poured in. Players also follow the trend, whether it is 9.9 yuan or 119 yuan, as long as the digital collection is out, almost all of them are equated with the second light.
Is the digital collection a new generation of wealth myths or a "leek trap"? Recently, the New Yellow River reporter sneaked into a number of digital collection exchange groups to peek behind the current digital collection.
The first investment after 00? It's like fathers collecting stamps
"Now people who play with digital collections are more or less speculative." After the 90s, Wang Chi used to be a "currency circle youth", witnessed the ups and downs of virtual currency, and now looking at the domestic digital collection, I think it is all "small fights", "in the current situation, it will not make you rich overnight, nor will you go bankrupt".
The digital collection originated from the popular NFT abroad. NFT (Non-Homogeneous Token) is a technical standard on the blockchain that gives the characteristics of blockchain technology to digital artworks, giving these virtual items unique credentials that cannot be tampered with. Last March, American artist Mike Winkelman's digital work "Every Day: The First 5,000 Days" (a JPG collage photo) sold for about 450 million yuan after 14 days of online bidding. This is the highest price NFT will be auctioned at auction in 2021 and is also considered a "milestone in the history of digital art". Since then, similar magical events have been staged.
"Every Day: The First 5,000 Days" (Image from the Internet)
Subsequently, the NFT boom swept the country, and many players have entered the track, especially the big factories. Ali launched Whale Detective, Tencent launched phantom core... According to incomplete statistics, as of now, there are more than 100 domestic digital collection platforms.
However, unlike foreign NFTs that tend to be financial assets, in the context of severe crackdowns on "virtual currency" mining and trading behavior, in order to prevent the occurrence of risks such as malicious speculation and money laundering, various platforms have "de-NFTs" and mainly promote the concept of "digital collection".
"Digital collections are a kind of initial application of NFT technology by Chinese enterprises under the framework of compliance, and they tend to be more likely to be a digital equity, but they are only marked by blockchain NFT technology." Li Tiegang, a professor at the School of Economics of Shandong University, introduced that foreign NFTs are mainly traded through virtual currency, and domestic digital collections can only be purchased through RMB.
Within the digital collection exchange group, players sort out the major platform sales information
The New Yellow River reporter combed the major platform products and learned that the digital collection has a variety of play methods, and cultural relics, music, cards, paintings, photographic works, etc. can be transformed into digital collections, and the quality is uneven. Its collections Chinese, intangible cultural heritage, calligraphy and painting, tide play, aerospace, e-sports and other fields are the most popular.
And compared with foreign NFTs with hundreds of millions of dollars, the price of domestic digital collections is close to the people, with unit prices between 0.99 yuan and 99 yuan, and many are free. Only a few prices are relatively high, such as the debut work "I want to go to school (big-eyed girl)" of Visual China's digital collection platform "Meta Vision", which is priced at 199 yuan / copy; the NFT of the undersea column pre-sale of Hangzhou Yuanyuan and Zeus Technology Co., Ltd.,Bigverse, is priced at a maximum price of 22,000 yuan, limited to one piece.
"Most of them are young people, I was born in 1990, and I am already the older of them." Wang Chi said that seeing the popularity of NFTs in foreign countries, many young people who have experienced shoe frying and hand-fried operations believe that a new outlet has come, especially the price of digital collections is more than 100 yuan, which is particularly attractive for many young people who do not have the ability to bear risks.
"It must be to make money, otherwise who would want to buy a picture?" Leaving aside the so-called uniqueness, XiaoFuzi has not yet figured out how different the digital collection is from the pictures in reality, but he began to move his heart after hearing that a digital torch for the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games, which was originally priced at only 39 yuan last year, was hyped to 3.149 million yuan. "Although the final digital torch auction event is just a oolong, but the first move is strong, maybe the future digital collection can really change a suite!" 」 Xiao Fuzi feels that this is his first life financial management as a post-00s.
In the qq group of more than 1500 people lurking in the new Yellow River reporter, more than 70% of the post-00s and post-90s, and 75%-80% of the boys, many of them have the same idea as Wang Chi and Xiaofuzi - betting on the future digital collection secondary market is all open, and then speculating to achieve overnight wealth, just like the fathers collect stamps and play antiques.
Distribution of members of a 2,000-person digital collection exchange group
9.9 yuan "Su Xiaomei" was speculated to 50,000 yuan, and some platforms received 700 complaints in January
So can you make money playing with digital collections now?
This starts with the digital torch event of the Hangzhou Asian Games in Xiaofuzi's mouth. On September 16 last year, Alipay issued a limited edition of 21,000 "2022 Hangzhou Asian Games Digital Torches" with a unit price of 39 yuan. Eight days later, a user named "Street Dance Geek" auctioned the torch for 3.149 million yuan at Ali Auction. Alibaba then shut down the auction and defined it as a "suspected fraudulent online transaction." Coincidentally, the Dunhuang Feitian skin, which originally cost 9.9 yuan + 10 ant points, was later fried to 1.5 million yuan on idle fish and was also removed from the shelves.
The image comes from the Internet
Since then, a number of second-hand trading platforms such as Idle Fish have begun to block NFT commodities. At the same time, Alibaba, Tencent and other platforms began to change the word "NFT" in the product to "digital collection", and clearly stated in the user regulations that digital collections cannot be traded and speculation is prohibited.
In the secondary market, at present, the major platforms are mainly divided into three situations, one is represented by Tencent's phantom core and meta-vision, which does not allow the secondary circulation of collections; the other is represented by Unique Art, Bigverse, etc., allowing secondary transactions in the station.
Taking the only art as an example, in February this year, the platform launched the "Su Xiaomei" series of digital collections in the form of blind boxes, with a unit price of 9.9 yuan, and now the on-site trading market has risen to nearly 50,000 yuan.
However, the only art has also been repeatedly criticized, first in 2021 Alipay suspended the payment business with its own company; then Tencent banned the "only art" mini program on the grounds that "the 'digital collection' service actually provided by the mini program belongs to the service category that has not yet been opened"; since then, the only art has also been frequently complained about swallowing money, not being able to withdraw cash, not shipping and not refunding. On the black cat complaint platform, the number of complaints in the past 30 days reached 700. Many of them are parent complaints, such as "children play mobile phones, WeChat group posting the only art can buy dnf, accidentally bought two, now cheap 1,000 yuan can not be sold, apply for compensation."
The torch, which was once hyped to 3.149 million yuan, has now fallen below 2,000 yuan
There is also a kind of whale exploration, hyper-dimensional space, etc., which is open to the function of "free transfer", but it is clear that it does not support any form of resale. In order to prevent speculation, the gratuitous transfer needs to meet certain conditions, taking Whale Detective as an example, the user can purchase a digital collection for 180 days before initiating a transfer to an Alipay friend, and the recipient can only initiate a transfer after accepting the digital collection for 2 years. Compared with Whale Detective, the conditions of other platforms are relatively relaxed, and the transition period varies from 1 day to 30 days.
From the perspective of actual results, the strict "limited increase" has reduced the occurrence of speculation to a certain extent, but it has also triggered a large number of over-the-counter trading chaos. In the multiple digital collection exchange groups lurking in the New Yellow River reporter, the secondary transaction is mainly aimed at such digital collection platforms.
"13,000 Dunhuang without 4, 12,000 with 4", "Xiaoqing Xiaobai and Feng Zikai", "Signing a contract to collect Liu", "2400 torches, no 4", "1800 torches", "20,000 sets of Dunhuang, come to Henan to deliver"... In the group, similar transaction news flashes frequently, and there are people who buy with pending orders basically every minute.
Depending on the rarity of the IP versus the complexity of acquisition, the price of the digital collection varies. Like Dunhuang Feitian Skin, which was previously speculated to 1.5 million yuan in idle fish, it is still tight in the second-hand market, and the transaction price is mostly more than 10,000 yuan; but the torch price has fallen sharply, and half a month ago, there were buyers who called for more than 10,000 yuan, and it has now fallen below about 2,000 yuan.
"It turns out that although there are more than 10,000 people shouting, but not necessarily someone really buys, you buy it from others, you have to hoard it for 2 years before you can sell it, who buys who is a leek." Little S, who calls himself a "tibetan scalper", confesses.
"They all grab it themselves and then sell them, and the price can be doubled several times, but my most expensive one only sells for more than 500 yuan." Little Ear said that he earned about 2,000 yuan in a few months in the pit.
There are also large acquirers. Nuonuo claims to have prepared 300,000+ funds to collect whale exploration digital collections, "just buy lottery tickets, first hoard in your hands."
The gray and black industry is secretly emerging, and over-the-counter transactions have become a high incidence of fraud
Judging from the group information, platform combing, digital collection sales, new platform airdrops, price broadcasting, manual robbery, team training, guarantees, etc. are readily available, and a complete industrial chain is gradually being formed. But along with it, there is a gray and black industry that breeds secretly and frequent fraud cases.
In a | called "Whale Detective | Phantom Nuclei In the exchange group of the NFT Official Collection, two fraudulent information is still hanging in the group announcement, one of which reads: "This person is a liar, posing as a group manager to deceive in the group, impersonating a group guarantor to defraud the guarantee fee!" True guarantors don't take the initiative to add anyone to their friends! Please check the information of the management personnel when trading, do not believe the name, avatar, to see the QQ number! ”
The minor class is one of the deceived. At the beginning of March, Xiao waited for two digital products in the group, and in order to ensure the safety of funds, the other party proposed to find an "official guarantor" to guarantee it, charging 8%. After consultation, Xiao Wait first transferred 450 yuan to the "official guarantor" by scanning the code payment. Unexpectedly, the digital collection has not yet arrived, and Xiao Wait and the seller have a disagreement over the transaction problem, and are blocked by the seller. When he turned around and asked the "official guarantor" for money, the "official guarantor" also blocked him. "If you don't get the collection, the money won't be returned, you can only think that you are unlucky, and there is no way to call the police for this amount." Xiao Wait also found the group owner to discuss the explanation, but once verified, it was found that the "official guarantor" who made the "guarantee" for the small class was not the "official guarantor" in the group, but only imitated the head and name of the group guarantee, and the group was withdrawn at the first time after the "fraud" ended, and the traces were difficult to check.
Are the legitimate "official guarantors" in that group qualified to guarantee? How to ensure the safety of funds? In the face of this problem, the other party only said: "I have paid a deposit to the group owner, you can rest assured, I can't shoot a shot to change a place." If I really want to prove that my Alipay credit value is 700+, does it count? ”
In the latent exchange group of new Yellow River reporters, similar scams occur every week, ranging from a few hundred yuan to a few thousand yuan. Netizen metaX also shared his similar fraud experience with Xiao and so on in Zhihu, "The seller and the guarantee are the same burning person, after the money was transferred, they both disappeared, I was cheated of 4100 yuan, I have called the anti-fraud phone to file a case, but I have not received a reply at present."
In addition, in response to problems such as Whale Detective's 180-day transfer period, some users also sell through agreements and transfer the goods after the transfer restriction period has passed. But in Wang Chi's view, this kind of contract has no meaning, "the contract comes into effect on the basis of law." Although the contract will stipulate some 3 times the compensation clause, it has no legal effect, and everything is waste paper. ”
In this regard, Whale Detective customer service responded: "Whale Detective does not support any form of resale, please beware of fraud risks."
Investment in science and technology should pay attention to the substitution of technology
According to Liu Di, deputy director of the Defense Skills Research Department of Shanghai JingYulin Law Firm, some of the chaos that occurred in the digital collection exchange group has little to do with the attributes of the digital collection itself, which is a traditional problem of online trading and belongs to the new bottle of old wine. But from another point of view, the current domestic digital collection development is relatively deformed situation but to promote these problems, "at present, like the phantom core, whale probe and other mainstream platforms, in order to ensure their own compliance, have deliberately lowered the price of digital collections and prohibit secondary trading, so the relevant gray and black industries will inevitably emerge under the action of economic laws."
Liu Di introduced that the current domestic regulatory trend of digital collections is still unclear, on the one hand, the application scenarios of most digital collections are less risky, like the digital collection of the Asian Games torch, which can not only achieve social benefits, but also achieve certain economic benefits. However, it is undeniable that as a new concept and new format, the barbaric growth of digital collections has also spawned a series of legal risks, such as suspected illegal operations, the organization and leadership of pyramid schemes, the risk of illegal absorption of public deposits or fund-raising fraud, etc. "For example, in the case of the concept of meta-universe, NFT, and digital collection, it is difficult to guarantee that no one will build a trading platform or provide intermediary services for trading on foreign platforms, which may be identified as engaging in illegal fund payment and settlement business." There are more complex and concentrated criminal legal risks in raising funds and investing in digital collections." Liu Di believes that the opening of the secondary market for digital collections is the only way for the development of the industry, but if there is no way to coexist in harmony with society, digital collections are likely to become the next P2P.
Therefore, many people in the industry remind that at the moment when the rules and regulations of various types of digital collections are not perfect, consumers need to beware of being "cut leeks", "do not rule out that there are enterprises to attract a large amount of social capital to enter, build a distribution platform to sell at will, and then close the door and run away in two days."
During the two sessions of the National People's Congress in 2022, Xu Niansha, a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, proposed that the current digital collection products in the mainland are in the initial and rapid development stage, but there are still problems such as confusion in the ownership of digital collections, uneven quality standards of digital collections, and unsatisfactory protection of consumer rights and interests, and should strengthen the copyright protection of digital collections as soon as possible, and effectively supervise the distribution of digital collections and the access to trading platforms.
Li Tiegang believes that if the digital collection wants to develop healthily, in addition to finding a compliant and legal business model, the creative value of the digital collection itself is also crucial, "for example, a painting by Monet, in addition to being a simple picture, can its color be completely digitized and allowed to be extracted by the collector?" Digitalization should empower reality more. He also specifically reminded consumers that technology investment should pay attention to the substitution of technology, "just like the big brothers in the 90s, although it was good and expensive at the time, it is now completely worthless." ”
New Yellow River reporter: Shi Xiaodan
Proofreader: Liu Tian
Editor: Xing Zhibin
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