Alipay denies authorizing crypto trades after Peer's USDC beta

What happened

Alipay has denied that it supports cryptocurrency trading through outside platforms, responding one day after the peer-to-peer marketplace Peer announced a beta service for buying and selling USDC with Chinese yuan payments. In a statement dated Oct. 28, the Chinese payments company said it does not authorize virtual currency transactions or related services over its network. It also warned customers to be careful with third-party offers that present its payment accounts as a way to buy digital assets. Crypto.news and Coinpedia both reported the exchange.

Peer announced the feature on Oct. 27, describing a marketplace where a buyer sends yuan to a seller through Alipay and receives USDC through Peer's settlement system. The seller can also exchange the stablecoin for yuan payments. According to Peer, the fiat leg is a direct transfer between individual users, while the crypto leg is handled onchain. A seller deposits USDC into a smart contract, and the contract releases the stablecoins to the buyer once the yuan payment is verified. Peer said it has no formal partnership with Alipay and characterized the arrangement as payments initiated by users rather than an official integration.

Alipay's statement rejected the idea that its network supports crypto purchases on third-party platforms, calling such claims false and unauthorized. The company urged users to protect their funds and account security when they encounter services advertising digital asset trades through Alipay. Peer had pointed users to a Chinese-language account for instructions and customer support when it announced the beta.

Why it matters

The disagreement puts a spotlight on the boundary between crypto marketplaces and regulated payment channels in China. Peer's design does not require Alipay to issue USDC or run an exchange, but Alipay's network would still carry the fiat portion of trades tied to digital assets. Alipay says that activity is not authorized. For users, the warning is a reminder that crypto-linked transfers through a payment account can carry account and fund risks, especially because Alipay has said it monitors for unauthorized crypto-related activity. The episode also raises questions about how a service can market Alipay settlement without the payment provider's approval, and whether such offers can continue without facing restrictions.

What the data shows

Peer said the Alipay-linked arrangement had been running since Aug. 21, before its public beta announcement in October. The platform reported 107 completed transactions involving 45 buyers, with total volume of about $7,094. Based on those figures, the average trade was roughly $66.30, suggesting small individual orders. The numbers were reported by Peer and were not independently confirmed by Alipay. They cover activity associated with the beta service and do not establish the total volume of crypto-related payments flowing through Alipay.

Background

China has maintained restrictions on cryptocurrency trading and related payments for years. In February 2026, the People's Bank of China and seven other government departments issued updated rules that classified virtual currency trading, fiat-to-crypto exchanges and related financial services as prohibited financial operations. The notice covered Bitcoin, Ether and stablecoins, and added requirements for tokenized real-world assets. Authorities have said cryptocurrencies do not have the legal status of sovereign money and cannot circulate as currency in China. In June, the central bank outlined additional anti-money-laundering measures aimed at virtual currency transactions, underground banking and cross-border financial crime, describing coordinated investigations with public security and other agencies. Alipay has previously put monitoring procedures in place for accounts used in unauthorized crypto-related transfers, including over-the-counter digital currency trading, according to earlier crypto.news coverage.

What is still unclear

Several questions remain open. The reports do not say whether Peer has paused or changed the feature after Alipay's denial, or whether Alipay will take action against accounts connected to such payments. It is also unclear how the marketplace will handle the conflict between its description of user-directed yuan transfers and Alipay's statement that crypto-related use of its network is unauthorized. Peer has said it has no formal partnership with Alipay, but the service still depends on users choosing to send payments through the platform.

What to watch

Readers should watch for any further statement from Peer about the beta's status and for Alipay's account-enforcement practices. Regulatory attention is another factor: China's restrictions on fiat-to-crypto exchange and related services remain in force, and the central bank has been pursuing anti-money-laundering measures targeting virtual currency activity. Any move by payment providers or authorities to tighten monitoring could affect how similar peer-to-peer services describe their payment options.

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