Blockchain + Trendy Toys: Hartfort Reshapes the Value of Trendy Toys with NFT
The consumption of domestic trendy toys and plush toys is extending from children's playmates and gift items to scenarios of emotional companionship, daily display and collection expression for adults. In response to this change, HEARTUVT, an original plush trendy toy brand under Kariduo (Shenzhen) Cultural and Creative Co., Ltd., is promoting a physical plush product solution of "NFC (Near Field Communication) chip + blockchain evidence storage": by tapping the built-in chip of the product with a mobile phone, users can complete the activation of the digital identity corresponding to the physical product, the update of holding records and the on-chain transfer, so that the plush trendy toy has the dual value of physical collection and digital collection at the same time, and enters a market system with higher transparency and greater value transfer space. At present, the project is open for RMB 3 million financing with 15% equity transfer, and the funds will be mainly used for the commercialization of the first-launched products, brand channel construction and the establishment of a digital identity membership system.
According to the 2026 White Paper on the Development of China's Toy and Infant Products Industry released by the China Toy & Juvenile Products Association and public reports from Xinhua News Agency, the total retail sales of domestic toys (excluding trendy toys) in 2025 reached 103.53 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 5.8%; the total retail sales of trendy and collectible toys reached 67.69 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 45.4%. Xinhuanet previously cited industry data stating that in the first half of 2024, the overall sales volume of key toy categories on Tmall increased by 9.3% year-on-year, of which the sales of plush toys increased by 9.2% year-on-year; in the 2024 semi-annual report of Pop Mart, the revenue of the plush toy business increased from 40.79 million yuan in the first half of 2023 to 450 million yuan in the first half of 2024. The above changes show that plush toys are becoming an important category in trendy toy consumption and emotional consumption.
From Children's Playmates to Adult Collections, Plush Trendy Toys Require a New Trust Mechanism
The consumption scenarios of plush products are changing. The 2025 Report on the Development of Plush Toy Industry released by Guangdong Toy Association mentions that plush toys have formed deeper integration with trendy culture, IP authorization, cultural and creative design and emotional value consumption, and the global plush toy market size is expected to exceed 10 billion U.S. dollars in 2024. A survey of 522 questionnaires in the 2025 Young People's Plush Toy Report by Postwave Research Institute shows that 92% of the respondents' plush toy consumption is self-purchase behavior, and women, the post-1995 generation, post-2000 generation and post-1990 generation constitute the core sample. Although such questionnaires cannot be directly equated with the full market statistics, they can reflect young consumers' demands for emotional companionship, social sharing and self-expression of plush products.
On the supply side, the domestic plush market is not short of manufacturing capacity. According to the report of Guangdong Toy Association, as of November 2024, there are about 17,700 existing plush toy-related enterprises in China, and China is also an important plush toy producer in the world. However, in the mid-to-high-end original plush trendy toy market, brands still face problems such as homogeneous design, weak user relationships, difficulty in retaining collection records, and lack of a unified verification entry for product authenticity and transfer records. For young users who are willing to pay for original design, companion experience and collection attributes, a single physical product can hardly continuously carry identity expression and membership rights.
HEARTUVT chooses to cut in from original plush images, focuses on simple and restrained product design, weakens the emotional limitation brought by fixed expressions, and leaves more space for emotional projection to users. The target users of the project are mainly Generation Z women in first- and second-tier cities, with products priced from 278 yuan, positioning as light luxury plush trendy toys. Compared with simply relying on popular IP or one-time sales, HEARTUVT prefers to take physical plush products as the entry for users to enter the brand system, and establish a longer-term brand relationship through digital identities, holding records and membership rights.
NFC Tap to Connect On-Chain Identity, Reconstruct the Transfer Relationship of Physical Trendy Toys
In terms of product solutions, HEARTUVT plans to embed NFC chips into each physical plush product, and generate a unique digital identity through blockchain evidence storage. After users tap the product with their mobile phones, they can complete product activation, view the product number, basic information, holding status and transfer records; when the product is transferred or circulated for the second time, the relevant holding relationship can also be updated through the induction action. As a result, physical plush products are no longer just consumer goods purchased once, but bound to a recordable, verifiable and sustainably operated digital relationship.
The core value of this design is not only anti-counterfeiting traceability, but also enabling physical trendy toys to have two layers of collection entries: digital and physical. On the one hand, users own plush products that are touchable, companionable and displayable; on the other hand, the NFT or digital identity corresponding to the product records the carrying relationship and transfer path, extending the collection behavior from single physical possession to digital right confirmation, community identity and membership rights. For brands, the NFC tap action also allows HEARTUVT to bypass the problem of user relationship disconnection in traditional channels, directly identify real end users, establish user data connections, and continuously serve users in subsequent membership rights, community operation, new series release and brand value delivery.
In terms of compliance expression, the project still needs to avoid packaging digital identities as financial products. The Provisions on the Administration of Blockchain Information Services issued by the Cyberspace Administration of China requires that the provision of blockchain information services within the territory of China must implement requirements such as filing, real identity authentication, information security management and log preservation; according to the information provided by the team, Kariduo (Shenzhen) Cultural and Creative Co., Ltd. has obtained the blockchain information service filing. The Initiative on Preventing Financial Risks Related to NFT issued by China Internet Finance Association, China Banking Association and China Securities Association in 2022 also clearly states that the tendency of NFT financialization and securitization should be firmly curbed, virtual currency should not be used as the pricing and settlement tool for issuance and transaction, and services such as centralized transaction and continuous listing transaction should not be provided for NFT transactions. Based on the above regulatory environment, HEARTUVT's product promotion should focus on physical consumption, digital identity, transparent transfer records, membership rights and user services, and avoid guiding expectations of return on investment.
Completion of R&D and Small-Batch Verification Preparation, Financing for Commercialization of First-Launched Products
The HEARTUVT project was launched in early 2024, and has undergone more than two years of product R&D and model polishing. The team has currently completed: relevant trademark registration, copyright registration for trademarks and product engineering drawings, software copyright registration, and blockchain-related invention patent registration (in application); the brand's official mini-program has been launched, the products have undergone 8 rounds of optimized proofing, and the first batch of 1000 products have entered the stage of small-batch production and market verification preparation. The project is being verified around product sell-out efficiency, customer acquisition cost, user activation rate and repurchase capability.
In terms of commercialization paths, HEARTUVT plans to promote along the main line of "content seeding - channel conversion - user precipitation". On the communication side, it will focus on content platforms such as Xiaohongshu, build a KOC and ordinary user seeding matrix, and strengthen the emotional companionship and collection expression scenarios of products; on the sales side, it will complete the first launch conversion through channels such as Tmall, brand mini-programs and offline buyer stores; on the user operation side, it will undertake activation, holding, transfer and membership rights through product digital identities, forming an operation closed loop from purchase to repurchase, and from single product to series collection. Subsequent small-batch trial sales are still needed to verify the content conversion efficiency and channel model.
In terms of the team, the core members of HEARTUVT cover product, technology, operation, intellectual property and other links. Wang Zi, the CEO, holds NPDP certification, TRIZ and China Certified Senior Planner qualifications, has participated in the operation of early domestic digital collectible projects, and his relevant cases were selected into the Top 50 Excellent Marketing Cases of the 1st Digital Collectible Conference of China Advertising Association; He Linlin, the COO, holds PMP certification and has many years of e-commerce operation experience, and has participated in the value system design of multiple digital collectible projects; Ran Huchuan, the CMO, has experience in intellectual property and all-media operation, and has independently operated a private domain project with more than 8,000 users; Zhou Qilong, the CTO, has long been engaged in Java and blockchain system development, and has experience in self-developed blockchain invisible watermark related patents.
This round of financing is open for 3 million yuan, with a planned 15% equity transfer. The funds will be mainly invested in the commercialization of first-launched products, small-batch production of supply chain, content channel construction, improvement of mini-program and digital identity system, and establishment of member collection system. For HEARTUVT, the key of the next stage is not to simply prove that the technology is feasible, but to verify whether the original plush products can achieve stable conversion in real consumption scenarios, and transform anti-counterfeiting traceability and transfer, collection records and membership services into long-term user value within the compliance boundary.