Alipay has now joined the digital yuan processing network, making it the first payment platform to support China’s national digital currency, Li Chen, Chief Compliance Officer of Alibaba’s fintech arm Ant Group, announced at a digital trade forum on Monday. Alipay users in China’s digital yuan pilot areas will now be able to use the digital currency on Alibaba-affiliated platforms, including e-commerce sites Taobao, food delivery service Ele.me, and grocery chain Freshippo. According to the latest data released by China’s central bank, the cumulative transaction volume of the digital yuan has exceeded 100 billion since the digital currency initiative began in December 2019. Some regard the digital yuan as a competitor to WeChat Pay and Alipay, which dominate the country’s digital payment market, but China’s central bank has publicly refuted such claims. The digital yuan became a payment option on WeChat Pay earlier this year. [Shanghai Securities News, in Chinese]