Alipay to Expand in the US, May Try to Conquer the World Shortly After

After conquering the Middle Kingdom, Alibaba’s Alipay is now setting its sights on the world’s largest consumer market.

TechCrunch:

China’s dominant mobile payment service is making its move in the U.S..

Ant Financial, the Alibaba spin-off that operates Alipay, has inked a deal with payment processor firm First Data that will allow its service to be used at point-of-sale with more than four million retail partners in the U.S.. The deal is the first of its kind for Alipay in the U.S.. The two companies previously partnered for a rollout with high-end retailers last year.

The move essentially pits Alipay against Apple Pay and PayPal, though given that it’s mostly aimed at Chinese customers visiting the U.S., it seems unlikely that the American payment giants will be losing market share to their Chinese rival.

Alipay’s move isn’t totally benign though, here’s what its North America president, Souheil Badran, told Bloomberg:

“This will open up Alipay to where it’s truly ubiquitous across the United States and hopefully more countries later.”

Photo: Stuart Seeger