On Sunday, the sale of the NFT collections got underway on OpenSea, the largest NFT marketplace. The site, which is located in Polygon, was exhibiting a vast gallery of images with the caption "Silence Speech."

In addition, the collection, which documents the demonstration against China's COVID shutdown, has a price of 0.01 ETH, which is equivalent to around $11.74 USD. In addition to that, it is planned that the auction will take place over the course of seven days.

The demonstration started when a devastating fire broke out on Thursday in the Urumqi district of the capital of China's Xinjiang region, which is located in the country's far northwest. As a direct consequence of this, the people of China vented their frustration and dissatisfaction with the zero-COVID regulations by taking their complaints directly to the streets.

As a response to the demonstration, the local authority placed responsibility on the victims of the fire for their failure to save themselves, which exacerbated the tension that already existed throughout the demonstration. Protests erupted over the weekend in a number of China's cities, including Shanghai, Wuhan, Beijing, Urumqi, and Guangzhou, amongst others.

Students from at least 79 Chinese institutions across 15 provinces took part in the public demonstrations that took place on Sunday evening, as reported by local media agencies in China.

Another NFT collection, this one dubbed "Blank Paper Movement," which consisted of 24 stylized photographs portraying demonstrators on the street, also filled the popular NFT marketplace. This collection was released by the same company as the previous one. The pictures show demonstrators clutching blank sheets and symbols of oppression as a message to communicate to the government.

In the meanwhile, the Ethereum-based collection has a floor price of 10 ETH, which, as of Monday at three o'clock in the afternoon Hong Kong time, is equivalent to $11,320.

The Contracting NFT Market in China

Caijing, a Chinese media outlet, said that a number of smaller and medium-sized NFT platforms are shutting their doors in China as a direct result of the gradual decline in money and interest that has been observed in the industry.

The most recent move, on the other hand, was taken because of the country's stringent restrictions governing cryptocurrencies and other digital assets. According to Liu Yang of the Deheng Law offices, the primary factor that decides how an NFT's profit structure interacts with liquidity is the NFT's nature.

Yang continued by stating that the quick fall of the Chinese NFT business may be attributed to the lack of money input into the ecosystem of the industry. As a direct consequence of this, the existing revenues for the NFT business are insufficient to compensate the losses incurred by clients, which means that a potential collapse is unavoidable.

Trading in non-fungible tokens is not prohibited at this time since regulators have not yet taken a position on the NFT business. However, the banking association has been issuing warnings to traditional banks since April, which was at the height of popularity of NFTs. These warnings are intended to advise investors of the dangers that are linked with NFT trading.

Even successful companies like Tencent have been able to complete the majority of their NFT initiatives. The latest development brings to light the gradual cooling off of the euphoria surrounding digital collections, as well as the difficulties associated with investments and the unpredictability of regulatory environments.