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Alipay e-payments network will be adding digital yuan to its list of supported payment modes, according to an affiliate of the Chinese tech giant Alibaba.
The statement was made by Li Chen, the Chief Compliance Officer of the Alibaba’s financial division Ant Group, as per Sina Technology. Alibaba’s online banking division and Alipay are run by Ant.
Alipay has joined the digital yuan acceptance network. It is the first payment platform to support the digital yuan.
Li Chen, the CCO of Ant Group
Li Chen also mentioned that Taobao had introduced a “fast payment function” for digital yuan wallets, enabling users to use their digital yuan balances when paying for items.
The official continued by saying that other services connected to the digital yuan would be “launched in batches” in the coming weeks and months.
With the new Alipay integration, users of digital yuan in the pilot zone can now use their coins to purchase goods and services from subsidiaries of Alibaba, including the grocery chain Hema, the “smart” online supermarket Tmall-Mart, and its Ele.me food delivery service.
The news source noted that customers of the Alipay and Taobao applications could immediately begin using digital CNY pay by just updating their apps. They can find prompts that direct them to digital yuan wallet payment choices at the checkout point.
In recent years, WeChat Pay and Alipay have topped the Chinese e-payments market, representing 15% of the country’s overall payments market. Tencent, a leader in technology, is the creator of WeChat Pay.
