An affiliate of the Chinese tech giant Alibaba has claimed that it will allow customers to pay with the digital yuan on its Taobao e-commerce platform, in addition to the market-leading Alipay e-payments platform.

The new Alipay link means that digital yuan holders in the pilot zone can also use their coins to pay for goods and services on Alibaba subsidiaries, such as Tmall-Mart, the tech giant’s “smart” online supermarket, the Hema chain of grocery stores, and its Ele.me food delivery network.

(By Tim Alper)