Hong Kong — Alipay, the mobile payment app owned by billionaire Jack Ma, is stepping up its competition with WeChat to get more of its 900-million users to tap expanded services in everything from real estate purchases to restaurant and cinema bookings.
“We’ve seen a spike in demand for online services,” He Yongming, vice-president of Alipay’s open ecosystem business. “This trend will only grow stronger even after the virus outbreak ends.” A property service provider began offering real estate auctions via the mini-program, selling 110-million yuan in property in total over three days, according to Ant. It used Alipay’s identity verification system, a live-stream of the auction in real-time and a private blockchain that incorporated the local notary agency.