A concept photo of metaverse Photo: VCG

The China Mobile Communications Association (CMCA)'s metaverse council, the country's first metaverse industry group, has signed a strategic partnership with the Asia Digital Bank, in a bid to jointly explore the new digital finance and trade ecosystem in the metaverse era, an official said on Tuesday. 

The move will also focus on promoting cooperation in the digital economy's development with countries and regions along the routes of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), an executive director of the industry body told the Global Times.  

According to a post on the council's official website, the metaverse council and the Asia Digital Bank will cooperate in five key directions following regulations in both China and Malaysia.

Apart from fostering cooperation with BRI participants, both sides aim to interconnect China's economy with the global digital economy through blockchain, while facilitating the issuance, trading and circulation of high-quality assets of the world's second-largest economy in the global market. 

The two sides will offer more business services and support for metaverse-related projects under the offshore financial policy framework.

As for future cooperation with BRI economies, the metaverse council will continue to explore innovative models that empower industries through cutting-edge digital and financial technologies such as blockchain, Yu Jianing, executive director of the China Mobile Communication Association Metaverse Industry Council, told the Global Times on Tuesday.

Yu said that the council will seek to integrate both domestic and international digital and financial resources to offer diversified, customized, international and digital services, pushing for metaverse partnerships among China, ASEAN members and the rest of the world.

The Asia Digital Bank is the world's first digital bank with a self-financing system built on blockchain technology approved by the Malaysian authorities, while being guided and initiated by Chinese institutions based on digital and financial strategic cooperation under the BRI. 

Analysts pointed out that China will be able to achieve more effective global cooperation with BRI economies and the rest of the world, as cooperation in the metaverse does not face physical limitations. 

The strategic cooperation will provide a platform for connecting digital assets and banks with the metaverse following its integration with blockchain, Liu Dingding, a Beijing-based independent analyst, told the Global Times.

China is placing a strong emphasis on deepening the development of the digital silk road with a variety of measures, including digital economy cooperation with global partners, cooperation with BRI countries to ensure network infrastructure interconnection, and other areas, under a plan targeting the development of China's digital economy during the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-25) issued by the State Council, China's cabinet. 

Liu added that digital collections involving non-fungible tokens are a typical format of the integration, while the digital product can help reduce circulation and printing costs and contribute to the construction of a low-carbon economy.

The Metaverse Industry Council released a convention on regulating the sector on Monday, which proposed that businesses related to the industry should be based on serving the real economy, while resisting the use of the metaverse for capital speculation and guarding against market bubbles.