Alibaba China's e-commerce platform launched a mining platform for the digital currency without causing any fuss to it, according to a report by the local media. According to Tencent news, Alibaba registered the mining platform "P2P Nodes" on October 10, 2017 with the relevant local authorities in Nanjing, but it is not yet clear if the platform has officially started registering users.
The news attracted the attention of the Western public by saying that Alibaba will integrate the mining platform with the e-commerce platform. The Tencent report also notes that the process will be a "third party" platform, meaning that it is supposed to serve as a cloud mining service that allows users to lease a retail power from the company.
The report also said Alibaba was "very cautious" about the project, as users could withdraw cash using Alipay but would not be able to withdraw digital coins that are directly mined under the terms of service. The report came at an important time as China's central bank has recently sought to tighten the screws on the local digital currency industry. Earlier this month, regulators began lobbying local governments and service providers to stop giving incentives for digital currency mining, a policy officials hope to make China less attractive to this booming industry.
Also, central bank officials are planning to block local access to the digital currency trading platforms and expand their central trading campaign which also began last year when regulators were forced to close local trading platforms.