Jack Ma's Ant Group is seeking stablecoin licensing in Singapore, Hong Kong, and Luxembourg to strengthen cross-border payments.
According to an exclusive report by Bloomberg, Ant Group is quietly pursuing its ambition to obtain a stablecoin issuance license in several countries, including Singapore, Hong Kong, and Luxembourg. This fintech group backed by Jack Ma is reportedly proactively seeking opportunities in the stablecoin space to enhance cross-border payment capabilities and international treasury management.
This information is sourced from knowledgeable insiders and has not been officially confirmed by Ant Group or regulatory authorities in each region. However, this move reflects a significant strategic pivot by Ant Group as the global financial ecosystem is moving towards a new payment infrastructure based on blockchain.
Ant Group's simultaneous search for licenses in three financial centers with open access policies to digital assets shows that the group is no longer just an electronic wallet company. If successful, Ant's stablecoin ambitions could reposition the group as a cross-border payment hub on a digital platform, while also becoming a key supporting tool in the consumer, commerce, and electronic wallet platforms that Ant operates.
The stablecoin race among major corporations
Ant Group's move comes as more and more traditional financial corporations shift their focus to the stablecoin sector. In the past week, Coinbase announced that nearly 60% of Fortune 500 companies are implementing on-chain strategies, while Deutsche Bank AG is actively researching both stablecoins and tokenized deposit models.
Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi confirmed that the company is in the research phase of applying stablecoins to payments, while major tech corporations like Google, Apple, X, and Airbnb are reported to be considering stablecoin integration. Notably, Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan revealed at a Morgan Stanley event that the bank is collaborating with the industry to build a stablecoin initiative.
In the long-term view, if the stablecoin issued by Ant is approved, it could create a counterweight to Western-issued stablecoins like Circle's USDC or PayPal's PYUSD. The competition reshaping global payments will have a formidable new player from China, this time not through the government but via the privatization strategy and long-term vision of the world's sixth-largest fintech corporation.
