Joe Weisenthal
Business Insider
January 8, 2014
Another blow for Bitcoin in China.
Alibaba — the e-commerce giant — will no longer allow Bitcoin use on its site.
Alibaba said that as of January 14 it would stop its users from doing any deals in Bitcoins or other virtual currencies such as Litecoins, and would bar merchants from selling any Bitcoin mining software or offering any related products.
The decision was taken to “promote the healthy development of Taobao Marketplace and to more effectively protect the interests of Taobao members,” Alibaba said in a statement. It added that the ban stemmed from the central bank’s ruling in December that prohibits any payment companies or financial institutions from handling Bitcoins.
The whole press release is here (in Chinese).
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