In June, Chinese pop-punk singer Wowkie Zhang released a music video in which he meets a virtual character in a hyper-colored animated world reminiscent of Pixar movies. Sporting Gen-Z-style silver hair, an oversized yellow and black sweatshirt, and baggy pants, the avatar does hip-hop moves to Zhang’s upbeat and catchy tune.

The virtual character is not a unique creation; instead, Zebra Labs, which produced the video, is turning it into a reusable piece of intellectual property that can be bought as NFTs in marketplaces and featured in other virtual events like video games. The startup is waiting for the bull market to return to launch the NFT project, Scarlett Li, founder and CEO of Zebra Labs, tells TechCrunch.

Zebra Labs’ goal is…