Alibaba’s Alipay Reaffirms Ban On Bitcoin & Other Crypto Transactions

Chinese e-commerce behemoth Alibaba’s digital payment subsidiary Alipay has warned that it will freeze any transactions involving Bitcoin (BTC) and other cryptocurrencies.

Alipay has once again made its anti-crypto position clear through a tweet, which cautioned users of its payment platform, that all transactions are closely monitored to identify illicit moves and guarantee compliance in accordance with existing rules.

Alipay issued the following statement regarding prohibition of Bitcoin transactions through its platform:

“If any transactions are identified as being related to bitcoin or other virtual currencies, @Alipay immediately stops the relevant payment services.”

The initiative has come after multiple reports that Alipay platform is being used as a channel for BTC dealings. Earlier this week, prominent cryptocurrency exchange Binance affirmed through a tweet that it has started accepting fiat currencies via mobile messaging and payment app WeChat and payment facilitator Alipay.

Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao, also referred to as CZ, explained that the exchange has no direct agreement with WeChat or Alipay and clients will be still able to carry out P2P dealings. The announcement has come after the launch of P2P trading of Bitcoin (BTC), Tether (USDT) and Ether (ETH) paired with Chinese yuan (CNY).

Nevertheless, late last month, the bank brushed away speculations and stated that it has not decided any particular launch date for its CBDC and rejected that the country is on a standby to introduce its digital currency.

Binance, which was actually established in China in 2017, carried out its initial strategic investment in Beijing headquartered crypto and blockchain focused publication Mars Finance in the middle of last month. Notably, the crypto community was anticipating the People’s Bank of China to introduce its own Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC).