Ant Group chairman Eric Jing Xiandong highlighted the company’s progress on tokenisation and praised blockchain’s role in finance at Hong Kong Fintech Week. Ant achieved cross-bank real-time settlement using tokenised bank deposits through Project Ensemble. Jing emphasized the potential of tokenised money for global settlement but did not mention Ant’s stalled stablecoin pursuit due to regulatory concerns.

Project Ensemble, launched in August last year, explores tokenisation use cases for faster transactions. Ant Digital Technologies operates Jovay, an Ethereum Layer-2 blockchain for asset tokenisation. Ant Group, an affiliate of Alibaba, aims to capture Hong Kong’s digital asset market with innovative blockchain solutions.

Stablecoin licence approvals in Hong Kong will focus on genuine use cases for cross-border transactions. Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po stressed the importance of sustainable business models for stablecoin applicants. By September, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority had received 36 stablecoin licence applications from various institutions.

Jing also noted the increasing mainstream adoption of blockchain transactions with more regulations and institutional involvement. He highlighted the shift from speculative to value-based transactions on the blockchain. Ant Group sees the potential of tokenisation for enhancing cross-border payments and financial services.

Read more at Yahoo Finance: Ant chairman touts ‘tokenised money’ for settlement but remains mum on stablecoin plans