Few mainstream companies have been quite as enthusiastic and aggressive in their investment in blockchain technology like Alibaba.
This was taken a step further this week when its cloud computing service announced that it would launch its blockchain service.
Plenty of Faith
Alibaba has long been a supporter of blockchain and distributed ledger systems which have been evinced by its willingness to embrace its technology and its investment in it.
According to a recent statement by Yi Li, their head of blockchain services, the company believes that cryptocurrency is the next most reliable infrastructure of the internet.
He also said that he believes that cryptocurrency will drive production as a whole due to the changes that were pushed forward by cloud computing.
Their new blockchain service boasts of a large storage capacity as well as secure connectivity. The latter comes as no surprise as Alibaba has its own cloud hosting service. The application has reportedly even found a home in supply chain management, apart from data asset management.
What Comes Next?
The service is newly launched and much of its functionality is still unknown to the general public so only time will tell.
However, Alibaba’s enthusiasm about blockchain technology is a good sign. Alibaba is one of the biggest online retailers in Asia and should their service catch on, others in the same industry might be encouraged to do something similar.
Alibaba has a considerable advantage over competitors in the same market in that it, first, has an inbuilt customer base of millions of people. Also, Alibaba’s primary market is in Asia which boasts of a large population and one that has shown significant interest in cryptocurrency.
Needless to say, converting customers shouldn’t be a problem for the retail giant.
Also, they have taken good measure to already integrate the service into their own systems which will make it easier for existing customers to embrace.
Alibaba has always been very forward thinking in its  business practices and its open endorsement of cryptocurrency.
Tech of the Future
Earlier this year, Jack Ma, the founder of Alibaba spoke of the technological advancements he felt were the ‘tech of the future’. He stated that blockchain manufacturing, the internet of things and smart manufacturing were the technologies to watch.
With  Alibaba’s recent moves, it’s not hard to see why.
