Strategic Layout: Hong Kong becomes a compliance stronghold, with Ant being the first to seize the opportunity
Ant International officially announced today that it will submit a stablecoin issuance license application to the Monetary Authority immediately after the Hong Kong (Stablecoin Regulations) come into effect on August 1. The core business focuses on cross-border payments and global treasury management, aiming to unlock liquidity from a $150 billion existing fund pool using blockchain technology.
Data Evidence:
Ant's Whale platform will handle over $1 trillion in funds in 2024, with $300 billion managed through blockchain technology;
Among the first batch of sandbox testing institutions in Hong Kong, Ant, HSBC, and Standard Chartered completed real-time settlement in Hong Kong dollars across banks using blockchain, reducing costs by 60%;
Global cooperation network covering over 70 markets, establishing funding channels with more than 20 top banks including Citigroup and JPMorgan Chase
Hong Kong is issuing 'IDs' for stablecoins, essentially competing for the minting rights in the Web3 era. Ant's move is akin to preemptively occupying 'on-chain SWIFT', capitalizing on the cross-border payment dividends between East Asia and Europe!
Compliance Threshold: HKD 25 million margin + executives must reside
Hong Kong (Stablecoin Regulations) sets three strict barriers:
Capital Threshold: Paid-in capital ≥ HKD 25 million, or circulating stablecoin face value 1% (whichever is higher);
Reserve Management: 100% pegged to fiat currency or U.S. Treasury bonds, with assets independently custodied;
Localization Requirements: At least 3 executives residing in Hong Kong (CEO/CFO must be resident)
Comparison with peers:
Standard Chartered's HKDG stablecoin has entered the sandbox's final testing phase, targeting cross-border exchanges in the Greater Bay Area;
JD's JD-HKD card positions itself in supply chain finance, but its testing progress lags behind Ant by six months
Core Conclusion: High compliance costs will wash out small players, with market concentration shifting towards licensed giants. Ant, with $3 billion in annual revenue and a record of continuous profitability, has already pulled ahead of competitors by three positions.
Industry Earthquake: The ultimate integration of traditional finance and Web3
Ant's entry will trigger three major chain reactions:
Reconstruction of cross-border payments: Achieving real-time transactions through stablecoins, reducing cross-border costs for SMEs from 3% to 0.5%;
RWA Asset Explosion: Real assets like bonds and commodities on-chain, with the 'tokenized deposits' collaboration between Ant and HSBC offering an annualized interest rate of 5.8%;
End of Regulatory Arbitrage: Shoddy coins accelerate towards zero, with capital migrating towards compliant assets like USDT and Ant's stablecoin
Global stablecoin market cap surpasses $240 billion, with compliant products growing at an annual rate of over 300%;
The second phase of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority's sandbox has expanded to 10 institutions, with technical standards aligning with Ant's Whale platform
Technical Underpinnings: Blockchain + AI dual-core drive
Ant's two major trump cards have surfaced:
Whale blockchain platform: Supports real-time settlement for over 100 cryptocurrencies, processing an average of $2.7 billion daily;
Falcon Forex Model: Predicts exchange rate fluctuations through AI, hedging position risks, with a 4.2% hedge return in 2024
Practical Cases:
Testing 'smart contract automatic redemption of government bonds' in collaboration with Deutsche Bank, reducing settlement time from T+2 to T+0;
Apply for a license in Luxembourg, exploring cross-chain interoperability of Euro stablecoins and Ant Chain
Bull markets can drop rapidly, but bear markets specifically target reckless gamblers—either keep up with the compliance wave or become cannon fodder for regulatory crackdowns!
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