Chinese payment service provider Alipay promises to block bitcoin-related transactions

• AliPay denies the possibility to buy bitcoins via the system.
• The company promises to block accounts of users that buy cryptocurrencies.

One of the largest payment systems in China, Alipay, denied the information that it can be used to buy bitcoins for fiat on Binance and promised to ban all payments related to bitcoin or any other cryptocurrency.

Notably, earlier on Thursday the head of Binance Changpeng Zhao confirmed the rumors that AliPay would become one of the payment gateways for Chinese bitcoin traders. However, the payment service provider denies this possibility.

“There’re several reports about Alipay being used for bitcoin transactions. To reiterate, Alipay closely monitors over-the-counter transactions to identify irregular behavior and ensure compliance with relevant regulations. If any transactions are identified as being related to bitcoin or other virtual currencies, Alipay  immediately stops the relevant payment services.” the company posted on Twitter.

It is worth noting, that cryptocurrency exchanges has been officially banned out of existence in China since the end of 2017. However, residents of the country are actively using P2P and OTC platforms to buy bitcoin.

Earlier this year WeChat Pay – another payment system mentioned by the head of Binance – promised to remove the profiles of merchants involved in bitcoin trading via the WeChat Pay system. That announcement was preceded by the blocking of cryptocurrency and blockchain related accounts, including the account of Bitmain.