Shanghai Data Exchange Makes History with First Virtual Asset Issuance and Trading

Issued 999 virtual assets in cooperation with Guangming Dairy

The Shanghai Data Exchange in China has completed its first issuance and trading of virtual assets. This is expected to accelerate the growth of China’s digital economy.

On the 23rd, the Shanghai Data Exchange announced that it had issued 999 tradeable virtual assets in cooperation with Guangming Dairy, a local representative dairy company.

The Shanghai Data Exchange is a quasi-public institution established in November 2021. After about a year of pilot operation, it officially started last January. Data exchanges are places where data generated from companies in various sectors, such as aviation, transportation, electricity, telecommunications, law, accounting, finance, etc., are turned into commodities and traded.

Over 100 companies and institutions have signed agreements and registered with the Shanghai Data Exchange, including data companies such as Shanghai Electric, China Eastern Airlines, and China Mobile, law firms such as Sherry, King & Wood, and Zhong Lun, accounting firms such as PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC) and Deloitte, data providers such as Fusu, UCLOUD, and Transwarp, and financial institutions such as China Construction Bank and Agricultural Bank of China.

China’s data market reached 81.5 billion yuan ($11.3 billion) in 2022, recording an annual growth rate of 30% over the past few years. With the official operation of the Shanghai Data Exchange, the market size is expected to reach 175 billion yuan ($24.2 billion) by 2025.