The data asset trading market was officially launched at the Shanghai Data Exchange (SDE) on Friday, marking the first of its kind in the country.

The urban comprehensive data assets formed by Deqing City Data Management Co Ltd became the first city-level data assets trading at the newly launched market, with a valuation of about 192 million yuan ($26 million).

Deqing is a county in East China's Zhejiang province. In 2020, the United Nations Global Geospatial Knowledge and Innovation Centre affiliated to the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs was settled down in Deqing in 2020. Upon this, Deqing has accelerated the construction of geo-temporal infrastructure and digital base, including the establishment of the comprehensive urban data asset by Deqing City Data Management.

The latest listing at the SDE's data asset trading market will provide the company credit financing based on valuation, according to Deqing officials.

"Given that data assets are still a new thing, generating concerns about it, the SDE has set a number of important prerequisites, including clear property rights, accurate valuations, dynamic disclosure of assets and a disposal mechanism in the event of problems," said SDE's general manager Tang Qifeng.

The data asset trading market will complete its trial operation in 2025 and will be put into official use in 2026, he said.

By making steady progress and timely two-way adjustments concerning trading and policies, the market, including regulatory authorities, can derive confidence in asset trading. New quality productive forces can also seek breakthroughs when such trading is more prevalent, according to Tang.

Since its inauguration in November 2021, the SDE has seen more than 2,700 data products listed, with a transaction volume of more than 1.16 billion yuan in 2023. The exchange has come up with a number of data assetization solutions since the beginning of this year by teaming up with more than 20 financial institutions such as Industrial and Commercial Bank of China and China Construction Bank. Based on these solutions, which are powered by digital technologies, the SDE has provided data asset-based loans to 10 enterprise, with a total credit of more than 100 million yuan.

The SDE has provided about 100 million yuan of data-based loans to enterprises so far this year and the number is expected to reach 500 million yuan when 2024 wraps up. The data asset-based financing is expected to see its value amounting to 1 billion yuan by the end of the year, according to Tang.