Alibaba may use blockchain in new cloud platform

Alibaba Financial has reportedly announced that it may use blockchain technology in its new cloud service platform, saying that they "are actively exploring the profound impact of blockchain technology in the financial sector". It is as yet unclear what specific use-cases Alibaba has in mind for blockchain, but a move by one of China's largest companies to work with the technology could have a profound impact on the velocity of the uptake of blockchain.

Alibaba Financial announced a possibility to use Blockchain in its new cloud service platform. This was mentioned at the Yunqi Assembly Shanghai summit in Beijing on January 20, 2016.

Moreover, in a review of the year 2015, Ali Financial cloud, a service of Alibaba Group, describes the possible benefits of using the Blockchain. It states that they “are actively exploring the profound impact of [Blockchain] technology in the financial sector.”

During the conference, Alibaba also released a whole chain of products for data collection, processing, analysis, etc, including Ali cloud platform. ChangLiang Xu, senior director of Aliyun, the cloud computing unit of Alibaba Group, commented: "These are industry-leading technologies for at least three years".

Blockchain and cryptocurrency in China and Asia

Bitcoin exchange Huobi CEO Leon Li and co-founder Dylan Du participating in the Yunqi Assembly Shanghai summit have also confirmed the announcement of Alibaba Financial on their plans to provide a cloud service platform based on Blockchain technology, in an e-mail to Cointelegraph.

Dylan Du has also mentioned that on the same day there was a statement from People’s Bank of China on developing their own digital currency. He spoke about the meaning of this news: