Alibaba denies partnership with Bitcoin rewards app Lolli

On the Singles' Day, which falls on 11/11 and is a famous shopping festival in China, lolli announced a partnership with Alibaba, offering consumers a 5% Bitcoin cashback on that day. However, Alibaba recently released a statement denying this collaboration.

According to a report, a representative from Alibaba Group has denied the partnership touted by Lolli's CEO Alex Adelman. However, in an email to media outlet Cointelegraph, Adelman insists that Lolli does indeed have a partnership with Alibaba Group. He stated:

"Since May, we've been working with Alibaba Group through AliExpress. We've driven substantial revenue for AliExpress and distributed bitcoin rewards to our users."

Related Reading: Alibaba Partners with Lolli to Enable Consumers to Earn Free Bitcoin

The representative from Alibaba explained:

"One of our contractors hired a subcontractor who, unbeknownst to us, engaged with Lolli for an affiliate marketing program. However, we want to make it clear that this was done without our knowledge."

"Our contractor is in the process of terminating the subcontractor's relationship with Lolli. Therefore, Lolli should no longer promote or attract traffic to Alibaba.com."

This rift also illustrates a common misconception in the blockchain industry. After marketing campaigns for Singles' Day became too popular, Lolli continued to publicize this partnership, leading some media outlets to equate it with Alibaba accepting bitcoin. Given China's hostile stance towards bitcoin, Alibaba may have been avoiding such associations. As the Alibaba representative stated:

"Lolli has no right to establish a partnership with Alibaba, nor to publish any implications of a partnership with Alibaba Group."

Lolli's Perspective

Adelman mentioned that Alibaba's website tested Lolli's service for 24 hours during Singles' Day, but then abruptly canceled the partnership and terminated the contract after the promotion garnered attention. Adelman emphasized:

"Allowing Alibaba to deny the partnership would be misleading and defamatory to our brand, as we've done nothing wrong and have complied with all contractual agreements with them."

He concluded by expressing regret over the communication breakdown with Alibaba, but hopes to work with them again in the future.

Partnerships

When blockchain companies truly have indirect membership contracts or are only working on proof of concepts, they often claim to have partnerships with brands. This indicates that some paperwork has been completed by both parties and relevant matters have been addressed before any controversial announcements are made. However, as seen in this case, despite the contracts being signed, the so-called partnerships still cannot clearly define whether these e-commerce platforms truly accept cryptocurrency.

This also highlights the challenge of defining what partnerships truly mean in the intersection of e-commerce and cryptocurrency. Among the many partnerships, which ones are unilateral promotions trying to capitalize on each other's popularity, and which ones genuinely show interest in blockchain technology or the cryptocurrency market?

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