Ant International announced that it is the first client to use HSBC’s new Tokenised Deposit Service. The solution enables real-time, 24/7 payments in both Hong Kong and US dollars between corporate wallets held by the same corporate client at HSBC Hong Kong. This makes it the first bank-led, blockchain-based settlement service in the market.
The service was launched following a successful pilot conducted between the two organisations using Ant International’s Whale platform. The platform is a proprietary treasury management system developed by Ant’s Platform Tech team under its Embedded Finance unit. It combines blockchain, encryption, and AI to support global intragroup fund transfers.
During the pilot, Ant International digitised its USD deposits into tokenised assets on HSBC’s secure distributed ledger and carried out instant transfers through its internal Whale platform. HSBC then refined the concept into its own Tokenised Deposit Service, with Ant International taking the lead as its first official user.
Whale platform strengthens digital treasury capabilities
The Whale platform is designed to optimise global treasury operations, and in 2024, more than one-third of Ant International’s transactions were completed on-chain using it. Built with advanced technologies like homomorphic encryption and zero-knowledge proofs, the platform ensures encrypted transaction details and supports multi-party verification without exposing sensitive data.
Whale currently enables interoperability across various distributed ledger technologies and supports multiple tokenised assets from global banks and institutions. This flexibility allows businesses to execute cross-chain transactions securely and with improved transparency.
Ant International sees this as part of a broader shift towards modernising financial infrastructure. The partnership with HSBC aligns with the company’s growing focus on using tokenisation and AI to address global liquidity and foreign exchange challenges.
Longstanding partnership continues to expand
The latest collaboration builds on a relationship between Ant International and HSBC that began in 2020. In October 2024, the two companies also successfully conducted a cross-bank experiment using HKD-denominated tokenised deposits under the Hong Kong Monetary Authority’s Ensemble Sandbox initiative.
Kelvin Li, General Manager of Platform Tech at Ant International, said, “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.”
He added, “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.”
