Alibaba Group's cross-border e-commerce platform, Alibaba.com, is reportedly exploring the use of deposit tokens for cross-border payments as mainland China tightens its grip on stablecoins. This move signals a potential shift in how the company manages its $35 billion e-commerce ecosystem, with a focus on streamlining international B2B transactions.
According to a recent report, Alibaba is partnering with JPMorgan to develop a tokenized payment system. The partnership was unveiled at the CoCreate Europe event in London. Kuo Zhang, president of Alibaba.com, confirmed the company is building a new payment network that uses tokenized fiat to simplify international B2B transactions. This system resembles a stablecoin, using tokenized fiat backed by real deposits purely for settlement purposes.
The initiative aims to tackle long-standing issues in cross-border B2B payments, such as multiple intermediaries, high exchange costs, and lengthy settlement cycles. Traditional cross-border transactions often involve several banking layers, whereas tokenized payments could enable seamless fund flow across jurisdictions, significantly reducing delays and costs.
JPMorgan recently launched the JPMD, a U.S. dollar deposit token available on Coinbase's Base blockchain for institutional clients. The JPMD token is backed by actual dollar deposits on its balance sheet, which allows for near-instant, around-the-clock cross-border settlements with enhanced security and regulatory compliance compared to stablecoins from non-banking institutions. Unlike traditional stablecoins, JPM Coin is a deposit token, backed 1:1 by bank deposits and used strictly by institutional clients for instant settlement. By integrating this technology, Alibaba aims to move digitized fiat across borders without relying on crypto exchanges or volatile assets, a crucial requirement for large-scale trade networks. Industry analysts anticipate that this collaboration could become one of the most significant real-world applications of tokenization to date, potentially handling billions in annual volume.
Alibaba.com also plans to support a new feature called "Agentic Pay," scheduled to launch in December. This tool leverages AI to automatically generate contracts from buyer-seller conversations, transforming informal exchanges into verifiable agreements and improving transaction efficiency. Officials also revealed that AI-driven smart contracts will be integrated into the payment flow—automating steps such as settlement, dispute handling, or release of funds once conditions are met.
It is important to note that other Chinese tech giants, including Alibaba-backed Ant Group and e-commerce group JD.com, had previously paused plans to issue stablecoins in Hong Kong after regulators raised concerns about privately controlled currencies. The Hong Kong legislature passed a stablecoin bill in May, establishing a licensing regime for fiat-referenced stablecoin issuers, providing regulatory clarity for future participants.
