BTC China, one of the world’s largest bitcoin exchanges by volume, welcomes Patrick Dai as co-founder and chief operating officer (COO) to boost the company’s efforts in catering to the thriving payments market.

Dai was the chief analyst at Alipay from 2007 to 2011. His contributions to the company include an online credit-scoring system that the establishment uses to streamline the size and approval of loan applications. After Alipay, Dai moved on to become vice president of Suning’s online financing division.

When asked about bitcoin’s presence in China, Dai mentioned, “Almost everyone I know in the Internet industry knows about bitcoin. They either recognize its value, or are still on the fence and waiting.”

The new BTC China COO also pointed out that local retailers are hesitant about virtual currencies due to lack of awareness. This is contrary to other countries, where tight regulations and insecure infrastructure prevent businesses from offering bitcoin-related services.

Dai’s knowledge in risk management and big data, combined with his extensive experience in traditional and digital banking makes him a valuable asset to BTC China.

The company’s rampant approach to expansion has helped accumulate over 1.24m CNY ($200,000) in transaction volume from its online payments service, JustPay. The newly launched platform allows merchants to accept bitcoin and convert it to any of the following supported currencies: CNY, USD, and HKD.

“I look forward to investing my time with this strong team to push bitcoin into the mainstream. For this to happen, the first step is for merchants to start accepting bitcoin as a global payment form.” Dai said.

In addition to increasing the number of active merchants, BTC China may need to diversify its services in order to stay competitive, such as Coinbase’s integration of bank-like storage features and online tipping.