New York and Las Vegas cabs start accepting China's biggest mobile payment mode

The taxi cabs in two popular U.S. destinations have responded to the millions of Chinese tourists coming in every year. By next month, tens of thousands of cabs in New York City and Las Vegas will accept Alipay, China's nearly ubiquitous mobile payment mode.

This will apply to 2,100 taxis in Vegas by the end of October, before another 14,000 in New York start accepting Alipay payment in November, reports national paper People's Daily.

Alipay in China, owned by Alibaba, is very widely used, and even more commonly turned to than credit cards. It holds a whopping 450 million active users in the country, who flip on its app to scan QR codes and pay for everything at street vendors, supermarkets, to pricey restaurants.

So now, rather than figure out change for a ride, Chinese travellers to the two big U.S. cities can scan a QR code and pay in a more familiar way when the ride's over.

A driver in China paying at a toll booth with Alipay and a phone. Credit: AFP/Getty Images

Verifone reportedly processes half of the world's store transactions, and has the lion's share of the major U.S. retailers.

This cross-border payment is thanks to a tie-up between Alipay and U.S. firm Verifone, which makes point-of-sale hardware like credit card readers.

Alipay and Verifone already struck up a collaboration in 2016, allowing Chinese users to pay for luxury goods in retail stores, and across the Atlantic, with retailers such as Harrods, and Selfridges in the UK.

Alibaba ties up with Poynt

Also on Thursday, Alipay announced that its users would be able to pay at Poynt terminals in the U.S.

Poynt, which started in 2013 by the former head for Google Wallet, produces smart terminals for merchants.

Its mobile and app-ready terminals are offered as competition against far larger players like Verifone.

UPDATE: Oct. 20, 2017, 12:25 a.m. UTC Updated with the Poynt announcement.