Singapore-based Ant International, a subsidiary of Jack Ma’s Ant Group, is preparing to apply for stablecoin issuer licenses in Hong Kong, Singapore, and Luxembourg. This initiative by the firm highlights that big financial companies are starting to embrace cryptocurrencies, seeing them as a trusted way to handle digital payments and transactions.
According to Bloomberg, the company plans to seek a Hong Kong license following the city’s Stablecoin Ordinance, effective August 1, 2025, which mandates licensing by the Hong Kong Monetary Authority with fines up to $640,000 for non-compliance.
As an affiliate of Alibaba, which runs Alipay for 1.3 billion users and 80 million merchants, Ant International aims to harness stablecoins for cross-border payments and treasury management. In 2024, Ant International’s Whale platform, which uses blockchain technology, handled $333 billion of the company’s $1 trillion in worldwide transactions, proving its strength in digital finance.
This builds on Ant’s earlier work, like partnering with Sui in December 2024 to turn environmental and social assets into digital tokens. The stablecoin market digital currencies linked to real money reached $250 billion on June 8, 2025, and could hit $1 trillion by the end of the year, according to DefiLlama. David Pakman from CoinFund says this growth could push more people to use cryptocurrencies, boosting the market.
The company’s push for stablecoin licenses shows it has confidence in the new regulations around digital currencies, which are quickly becoming important for everyday payments and settlements. Its goal is to make international payments quicker and more convenient. By using stablecoins, the firm hopes to bridge the gap between traditional banking and digital finance, making cross-border money transfers simpler and more efficient.
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