In the latest, AliPay, one of China’s leading financial services announced that it is distancing from cryptocurrency trading.
On October 9, 2019, one of the leading crypto exchanges Binance announced that it has started accepting fiat currency through WeChat and Alipay. This initiative was part of the Binance’s peer-to-peer trading rollout for cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin, Ether, and Tether against the Chinese currency Yuan.
AliPay and cryptocurrency trading
Following the Binance announcement, Alipay released its statements and stated that the payment service is distancing itself from trading activities related to cryptocurrency. Then Binance clarified that the exchange was not working directly with Alipay.
In the meantime, this evolving narrative regarding the situation speaks volumes about the legal status of cryptocurrencies in China. Though there is a trading ban in China, even then the peer-to-peer trading arena’s whispers are everywhere. The authorities are turning a blind eye on this whole affair.
However, when such reports enter into the public domain then the Chinese authorities are quick to take action. Perhaps, when China’s proposed cryptocurrency will see the light of the day, things might operate differently.
A hashpower-sharing platform BitDeer’s CEO and founder Celine Lu commented on this scenario and stated that as the government of China is paying special attention towards the third-part payment services’ activities like the Alipay
Lastly, Alipay is not the only one distancing oneself from BTC OTC trading. In May 2019, the texting and payment app WeChat also changed its policy, thereby, not allowing its platform for carrying out activities related to cryptocurrency such as peer-to-peer transactions.
