The success of the Alibaba IPO could trigger the management to incorporate bitcoin as a payment solution on its online marketplaces.

It will now be interesting to see whether the company’s management will take the initiative to start accepting bitcoin. One of Alibaba’s major marketplaces, Taobao, previously allowed merchants to sell bitcoins, as well as computers chips that help “mine” the virtual currency.

Apart from Alibaba, the Baidu search engine – also known as the “Google of China” – started accepting bitcoin payments last October. Baidu opened payments in the virtual currency for its Jiasule service segment, which assists in improving the speed and performance of websites. However, it followed in Alibaba’s stead, banning the virtual currency.

One Chinese company that started allowing bitcoin transactions and did not ban them post-regulations was the country’s third-largest mobile network company, China Telecom. The mobile company initiated a promotional offer last November that allowed users to purchase smartphones through bitcoins. All payments were processed by BitBill, the Chinese BitPay.

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