- Ant International is in talks with Circle to add the USDC stablecoin to its Whale blockchain payments platform.
- The company’s treasury unit processed over $1 trillion in global payments last year, with a third handled via blockchain.
- Stablecoin integration aims to improve payment speed and reduce costs in global treasury management.
- Ant International plans to seek stablecoin issuance licenses in Hong Kong, Singapore, and Luxembourg.
- Ant International has partnered with several major banks to support tokenized deposits on its payments platform.
Ant International is negotiating with Circle to integrate the USDC stablecoin with its Whale blockchain platform, which manages payments and treasury services worldwide. This comes as Ant International is being separated from Ant Group, the parent company behind the Alipay digital wallet in China.
The integration talks follow a public discussion between Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire and Ant International‘s Kelvin Li. Li announced that the company will pursue stablecoin issuance licenses in Hong Kong, Singapore, and Luxembourg.
According to Li, Ant International has processed more than $1 trillion in payments over the past year, with about one-third utilizing its blockchain-based platform. He stated during the Reuters Next event that the technology enables instant payments and 24/7 service, saving between 30% and 60% in liquidity and foreign exchange costs. The platform connects with ten global banks that support tokenized deposits, including DBS, Standard Chartered, OCBC, HSBC, BNP Paribas, and JP Morgan’s Kinexys Digital Payments. Deutsche Bank has joined this group recently.
Li said, “For us, we see global real time payments and treasury as an opportunity and stablecoins are a means, not the objective.” He clarified that the company does not plan to use stablecoins for typical cryptocurrency trading purposes.
In addition to transaction improvements, Li outlined that issuing stablecoins could open new business opportunities. He suggested “receiving part of the interest payment from stablecoins and most from payments” and explained that payments activity increases when other financial services, like foreign exchange or wealth management, also generate income. Li shared hopes of establishing new models under future stablecoin regulations.
While Li mentioned interest generated from stablecoins issued by Ant International, another method could involve revenue sharing between the stablecoin issuer and partners. For instance, as disclosed during its initial public offering, Circle has shared interest revenue with Coinbase and Binance. However, it remains uncertain if a similar arrangement will be made with Ant International.
For more information, see the original Bloomberg report and this public interview with company leaders.
✅ Follow BITNEWSBOT on Telegram, Facebook, LinkedIn, X.com, and Google News for instant updates.
Previous Articles:
- Bitcoin Hits Record $112,000 as Musk Confirms Wild Crypto Rumors
- New ZuRu macOS Malware Spreads via Trojanized Business Apps
- Bitcoin Hits $111K: 4 Signs Retail Investors Are Returning
- SDX and Pictet Complete Pilot to Tokenize and Fractionalize Bonds
- Latvia Allows Companies to Use Cryptocurrency for Share Capital
