Alipay has integrated with the processing network for the Chinese digital renminbi central bank digital currency (CBDC). According to Ant group representatives cited by chinabankingnews.

com, Alipay has become the first payments platform in China to join the processing network for the digital renminbi thus supporting rapid payments with digital renminbi wallets. During the inaugural Global Digital Trade Expo held in the Zhejiang province capital of Hangzhou, the same officials revealed that Alipay will gradually expand digital renminbi payments functionality for customers of the Taobao Chinese online shopping platform. Botong financial analysts expressed that third-party payments providers would help drive the expansion of the digital renminbi processing network and that they expect the digital renminbi to expand further.

China’s CBDC progress According to csis. org, China has been exploring a potential digital currency since 2014, although the first actual test of the e-CNY system didn't take place until 2022 with an initial trial launch in Shenzhen, Suzhou, Chengdu, and Xiong’an.   These tests were expanded in 2021 to Hainan province, Shanghai, and a number of other cities.

While Beijing has made substantial progress over the past several years in developing a digital renminbi, it still faces some challenges. In August 2022, the Rural Commerce Bank of Zhangjiagang has issued its first digital yuan loan backed by intellectual property as collateral. The loan is part of China's ongoing central bank digital currency (CBDC) pilot testing, and it involved the Chinese municipal bank located in the Suzhou province as well as an unnamed business.

Other developments from Alipay in 2022 Alipay has launched new features and entered new partnerships in 2022, including a partnership with digital payment provider WeChat as well as a collaboration with several Asia-based e-wallets. In October 2022, Alipay and digital payment provider WeChat have launched a feature that allows inter-platform transfers. As part of this partnership, AntGroup’s Alipay added a feature that permits its users to transfer sums to WeChat users thus creating a link between the two Chinese digital payments providers.

Alipay said that the ‘WeChat Friend Transfer’ function is a new feature launched in response to the needs of users. In September 2022,  Alipay+ has partnered with several Asia-based e-wallets to support cashless travel in South Korea. Some of these partnering e-wallets include TrueMoney (Thailand), Touch'n Go eWallet (Malaysia), AlipayHK, and GCash (the Philippines).

The partnership allowed users of these e-wallets to pay at over 120,000 merchants using their local mobile payment apps when travelling in South Korea. .