Several posts on Chinese Bitcoin news sites like Coin News Asia are reporting that online sales giant Alibaba is working on possibly using blockchain tech for their Alipay service. It was first talked about on 8BTC.com on Jan 20th amid speculation as to what uses Alibaba and Alipay might be looking in the technology to do.
In a statement at Coin News Asia Jingming Li, President of Alipay U.S. stated while talking about partnering with United could be one of the areas that they will deploy blockchain technology.
We are very pleased to partner with United and help them make online booking from China a hassle-free experience. By enabling the option to use China’s most trusted and secure payment system, Chinese travelers using United’s website can expect the safe, easy and consistent experience they have come to expect, while avoiding any currency barriers.
Alibaba which went public last year with their IPO has been aggressively growing world wide and in looking for ways to be able to be track different parts of this vast business is looking into blockchain technology from the Bitcoin industry. Does this mean Alibaba and Alipay are going to accept Bitcoin? Most likely not anytime soon but the fact they are looking at Bitcoin’s underlying technology shows just how transformative it really is.
Alibaba’s CEO Jack Ma during IPO
With Alibaba’s Alipay they could integrate a blockchain base to it which could make for a more robust database that can be cryptographically secured and quickly searched for better customer service and internal bookkeeping. The ways Alibaba could use the blockchain technology are limitless. Right now what they will do with it is speculation as reports have them in the discovery phase of the process. It will be interesting to see what ways they integrate it into it’s massive sales and online payments systems. Everything from inventory, payments, account management and more can can be handled with the blockchain. Internal uses like employee management and verification are even more ways it can be used.
Many companies in the financial industry have either invested in or are currently working on blockchain technology solutions for both internal uses and to bring new financial products to consumers in a fast and secure manner that current technologies cannot do. The sheer amount of hacks and data theft have in part driven this impetuous towards blockchain tech. Add in old money transmission systems that are not compatible with each other within the industry and make a money transfer takes days instead of instantly, blockchain tech can securely and speedily allow for a system that is compatible between different financial institutions and instant.
Seeing Alibaba begin speaking about researching uses for the blockchain is another sign it is here to stay. Huge companies like Alibaba see the potential in the technology. We cannot wait to see how it will manifest there.
What do you think about Alibaba researching blockchain technology to use in it’s systems? Let us know in the comments below.
Image Source: Capital Market Labs, Time
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