China’s biggest e-commerce platform is going to kind of a strange place in order to distance itself from Bitcoin and other blockchain assets.
Reports today in Cointelegraph show spokespersons of Jack Ma’s Alibaba denying a history of collaboration with a company called Lolli.
Apparently, Lolli maintains that the two companies worked together to pull off the Alibabe company’s recent “Singles Day” marketing blitz that brought Alibaba shoppers 5% in Bitcoin on purchases.
“Alibaba.com trialed (sic) our services for 24 hours and decided to deactivate the partnership without cause — breaking its contract,” said CEO of Lolli Alex Adelman Nov. 17 according to coverage by Joeri Cant. “The agency representing Alibaba.com approved a contractual agreement on behalf of Alibaba.com that included the promotion of Alibaba.com, the use of its brand, email marketing, and sharing on social media and various channels. There was no malintent (sic) on our end to misrepresent Alibaba.”
This comes after wild Bitcoin swings upward on the idea that the Chinese government may be willing to soften on cryptocurrency in general.
For background, Chinese president Xi Jinping made some interesting remarks a few weeks ago that some considered Bitcoin-friendly and the coin’s value shot up over $9000.
This Monday morning, Bitcoin settles around $8,400 – no great shakes in a world where investors are eagerly waiting for $10,000 and above (or in some cases, a cool $1 million.)
In terms of Alibaba’s vociferous rejection of any rumor that it’s moving toward Bitcoin, we can surmise that offering shoppers some Bitcoin rewards was a little too close to the kettle as of right now.
However, in other parts of the world, with Bitcoin ATMs standing in the streets and Bitcoin futures and options contracts being rolled out a la platforms like Bakkt, there is the suggestion that Bitcoin is consolidating its foothold in the global economy.
If you’re looking to test the winds of change on Bitcoin, you could do worse than establishing a good entry point and holding on for the long term. That’s what many larger investors are doing according to some analysts, as in these remarks by Marcos Veremis, managing director at Cambridge Associates last spring, chronicled in IPE:
“Investing in cryptoassets remains controversial, and we are extremely selective and cautious in this space,” Veremis reportedly said. “However, the attitude of many institutional investors in this space is not dissimilar to that of venture capital investors in early internet companies in the 1990s. Early-stage venture investing implies that the vast majority of companies and projects in this space could, and probably will, fail. Institutions know they are investing in cryptoassets on the basis that they may see many of their portfolio companies produce no returns, but with outsized returns from one or two of them … Though cryptoasset investments entail a high degree of risk, some may upend the digital world. Venture-style due diligence and technical expertise may provide a better understanding of cryptoasset investments and their long-term return potential.”