Cody McGrath 
Although Alibaba’s NFT marketplace solution included web hosting, digital marketing & content delivery infrastructure, the firm has since removed it from its website, even though it still appears in Google search results.
Alibaba Group Holdings’ cloud business unit launched a new NFT solution and then immediately removed all mention of it from the internet.
The firm’s NFT marketplace solution included “web hosting, digital marketing, and content delivery” infrastructure, according to a now-deleted Twitter post announcing the launch on June 8, but is no longer listed on its website.
There are no longer any press releases or announcements about the NFT solution on Alibaba’s website, and the solution’s webpage link still appears in Google search results, but it now redirects to Alibaba Cloud’s solution index page.
At this time, the reason for the deleted social media posts and delisting from its website is unknown. While crypto trading and mining are prohibited in China, there is a regulatory gray area with NFTs — officials are concerned but have yet to issue an outright ban.
The short-lived NFT-focused solution was supposed to provide Alibaba Cloud Elastic Compute Service (ECS) and Auto Scaling for marketplace growth, an SMS-integrated digital marketing service to connect sellers with buyers, and a Global Delivery Service – Alibaba Cloud Content Delivery Network (CDN) and Server Load Balancer (SLB) capable of supporting 100,000 queries per second.
According to the South China Morning Post (SCMP), which is owned by Alibaba, the solution was intended for customers outside of mainland China, with a representative telling the publication that the solution was only for Alibaba Cloud’s international website.
According to the SCMP, Alibaba-affiliated companies such as Ant Group and Tencent Holdings have previously moved to avoid potential regulatory backlash by branding their listed NFTs as “digital collectibles.” They are also available on private blockchains and are traded/purchased in Chinese yuan.
Alibaba Cloud’s website still lists a new Metaverse-focused solution that includes remote rendering, data analytics, and AI, as well as Blockchain as a Service (BaaS) as part of the private Alibaba Cloud Blockchain.
The company does note in the Metaverse solution that NFTs can be integrated into a Metaverse built on Alibaba’s services, but the company does not provide any of that specific infrastructure.
The China Banking Association, the China Internet Finance Association, and the Securities Association of China issued a joint statement in April cautioning the public against investing in NFTs due to “hidden risks.” They also stated that businesses should not treat NFTs as if they were securities, precious metals, or other financial products.
In March, Coinscreed reported that Chinese social media giants WeChat and WhaleTalk updated their policies to restrict or remove NFT platforms from their networks, citing a lack of regulatory clarity and fear of a government crackdown. However, Beijing has yet to impose a total ban on the sector.