Alibaba's NFT Marketplace Suspends Users Over 'Massage Gun' Purchases

Alibaba Group Holding Ltd – ADR’s BABA non-fungible token (NFT) marketplace Jingtan has suspended 680 user accounts for using massage guns and computer software to spam purchases on the platform.

What Happened: Some users used massage guns to carry out rapid and continuous “buy” buttons in order to execute NFT purchases, according to a report from Forkast.

Some computer-assisted accounts also created a large number of rapid spam transactions to gain an advantage over those attempting manual clicks.

Jingtan considers these activities “cheating” and in violation of its fair purchasing rules. A representative from the firm told Forkast that the wallets of the suspended users will not be confiscated, but repeat offenders can expect to face “harsher penalties.”

Why It Matters: NFT marketplaces in China continue to see a strong amount of public interest despite the government’s stance on cryptocurrency and virtual assets.

Alibaba and Tencent Holdings Ltd TCEHY have recently rebranded NFT references to “digital collectibles” in light of criticism from state-run media outlets.

As such, the tech giants' NFT platforms do not support private buying and selling of NFTs between individual users.

While a majority of NFTs in the west run on public blockchains like Ethereum ETH/USD, China builds NFTs on a state-run chain called Blockchain Services Network for Distributed Digital Certificates (BSN-DDS).

Price Action: Alibaba shares traded 0.18% higher during the after-market session at a price of $101.11.