Chinese E-Commerce Giant Alibaba Explores Blockchain-based Cloud Service Platform

 During the recent YunQi Computing Conference in Shanghai, Alipay, an  online payment platform of Alibaba, the world’s seventh-largest Internet  company and popular Chinese e-commerce corporation, announced it may supply a cloud service platform based on blockchain technology.The  Hangzhou-based corporation has become increasingly interested in  blockchain technology after observing the initiatives of leading  financial organizations and institutions such as Nasdaq, which  integrated blockchain applications into the conventional finance sector.The  decentralized and transparent Bitcoin blockchain technology enables  anyone on the network to send a peer-to-peer transaction, without the  involvement of a third-party application. The independence of the  network from intermediaries and the traditional financial platform  significantly reduces the costs involved in settling transactions and  payments for companies like Alipay.The Value of Stored Credit Information“If  the blockchain will be widely used, with more and more financial  institutions and commercial organizations applying the technology,  ordinary people will participate, which will lead to the storage of  information in it,” said Alibaba Group Vice President and President of  Research Institute Gao Hongbing. “The final value of blockchain is the  storage of credit information, which is the heart of business and  finance. In the past, we obtained this by ranking the companies.”He further emphasized the significance of big data, and the application of blockchain technology in the field.“The usage of the blockchain will grow with the transaction records stored in it,” Hongbing said.Today, Alipay serves  more than 350 million registered users and settles more than 80 million  transactions per day. The dominant Chinese payment network controls  nearly 80 percent of the entire mobile payment provider market in China  and supports 109 million active users on its Alipay Wallet platform.The  growth of cloud computing, Internet infrastructure and financial  platforms such as Alipay of Alibaba recorded a revenue increase of 128  percent year-on-year during the third quarter of 2015. According to the official financial statement of Alibaba, the company recorded “$289 million in revenue for cloud computing and Internet infrastructure.”As  a response to the growing demand for simple yet robust financial  platforms to process and settle cheap payments, Alipay is planning the  launch of a Bitcoin blockchain-based cloud payment platform for existing  Alipay users.Growing Demand for AlipayOver  the past year, a growing number of global corporations and  conglomerates have begun to offer Alipay to clients as one of their main  payment options. The world’s largest airline by number of destinations,  United Airlines, for example, announced that the company has officially  integrated Alipay into its system due to the growing demand from  Chinese citizens, who account for nearly 3 percent of foreign visitors  to the United States.“We are very pleased to partner with United and help them make online booking from China a hassle-free experience,” said Jingming Li, President of Alipay U.S.  “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.”Earlier this month, major Japanese  department store chain Kintetsu also announced that the corporation has  introduced the Chinese online payment solution in four of its department  stores in Osaka.“Alipay is a payment platform with over 400  million users in China. Chinese customers will be able to use the Alipay  app on their cellphones to pay for the commodities they have bought in  our department stores, which will be very convenient for them.” said Aki Shokyoku, foreign business director of Abeno Harukas Kintetsu Main Store. “We want to make payment more convenient for Chinese tourists so as to attract more Chinese customers.”Although  Alipay is still unsure whether it will gear toward the integration of  the Bitcoin network or the development of its own independent blockchain  network, the company’s executives present at the YunQi conference  clearly stated that Alipay will most likely introduce a  blockchain-backed cloud payment service in 2016.If the Alipay  team successfully integrates Bitcoin into their existing platform, it  will immediately enable 400 million users in its system to use Bitcoin  in settling international payments and transactions. Arguably, this  could be the largest Bitcoin integration by volume to date.