Ant International has launched a tokenised deposit solution in collaboration with HSBC.
This move enables real-time HKD and USD payments between its corporate wallets at HSBC Hong Kong to enhance treasury management efficiency.
The solution is built on HSBC’s new Tokenised Deposit Service, described as the first bank-led, blockchain-based settlement service in Hong Kong.
It was developed following a successful joint pilot involving HSBC and Ant International’s internal treasury platform, Whale.
Ant International became the first client to implement the service, completing an instant intra-group fund transfer by digitising USD deposits into tokens on HSBC’s distributed ledger.
The transaction was initiated via Whale, which is part of Ant’s broader platform for real-time treasury operations.
Whale is one of the core products developed by Ant International’s Platform Tech team under its Embedded Finance business.
It uses blockchain, artificial intelligence, and advanced encryption to support secure and efficient fund transfers between Ant’s intragroup entities.
In 2024, more than a third of Ant International’s transactions were processed on-chain via the Whale platform.
The system supports tokenised assets from various global institutions and enables cross-chain transactions using technologies such as homomorphic encryption and zero-knowledge proofs.
Ant and HSBC previously conducted a cross-bank experiment using tokenised HKD under the Hong Kong Monetary Authority’s Ensemble Sandbox in October 2024.
“We are very excited to work with an industry leader like HSBC, who shares the belief that tokenisation is the key to bridging the stability of traditional banking with the efficiency of blockchain, to enable real-time treasury management.
As a tech connector in the fast-evolving financial services industry, our banking partnerships are expanding from tokenisation to AI-driven global FX and liquidity initiatives. We look forward to working with more public and private-sector partners to unlock more transparent, accessible and efficient treasury management solutions for businesses worldwide.”
said Kelvin Li, General Manager of Platform Tech at Ant International.
Featured image: Lewis Sun, Global Head of Domestic and Emerging Payments, Global Payments Solutions, HSBC (fourth from right), and Kelvin Li, General Manager of Platform Tech, Ant International (third from left), together with other senior executives.