Ant Financial Technology Achieves Significant Progress in Six Months of Independent Operation, With Overseas Expansion as a Key Strategy

Ant Financial Technology Achieves Significant Progress in Six Months of Independent Operation, With Overseas Expansion as a Key StrategyOn March 19, 2024, Ant Group Chairman and CEO Jing Xiandong announced in an internal letter that Ant Financial Technology would become one of three independently operated subsidiaries of Ant. Over 170 days later, the first CEO of Ant Financial Technology, Zhao Wenbiao, publicly shared the company's business progress and strategic layout at the 2024 InclusionBund Summit media briefing, showcasing Ant Financial Technology's new look after its independent operation

Ant Financial Technology Achieves Significant Progress in Six Months of Independent Operation, With Overseas Expansion as a Key Strategy

On March 19, 2024, Ant Group Chairman and CEO Jing Xiandong announced in an internal letter that Ant Financial Technology would become one of three independently operated subsidiaries of Ant. Over 170 days later, the first CEO of Ant Financial Technology, Zhao Wenbiao, publicly shared the company's business progress and strategic layout at the 2024 InclusionBund Summit media briefing, showcasing Ant Financial Technology's new look after its independent operation.

Focusing on Enterprise Digitalization, the ABC Strategy Builds Trust and Efficiency

From establishing its blockchain lab in 2015 to achieving independent operation in 2024, Ant Financial Technology's core mission has remained constant: to empower enterprise digital transformation through technological innovation. To this end, Ant Financial Technology has put forth the "ABC" strategy, representing AI+, Blockchain+, and Cloud+. This strategy encompasses three stages of technological development, from cloud-native to AI-native and then blockchain-native, aiming to provide comprehensive solutions for enterprise digitalization.

Empowering the Real Economy with Blockchain Technology, RWA Opens New Horizons

Blockchain is in Ant Financial Technology's DNA, emphasized Zhao Wenbiao. Ant Financial Technology has been dedicated to applying blockchain technology to the real economy and holds high expectations for RWA (Real-world Asset Tokenization). RWA integrates physical assets with blockchain, transforming assets into trustworthy digital assets by securely storing real-time operational data on the chain, thereby opening up new financing models.

Recently, in the first phase of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority's Ensemble project sandbox, Langxin Group, using the new energy charging piles operated on its platform as the anchor assets for RWA, successfully secured the first RWA cross-border financing. In this case, Langxin Technology utilized Ant Financial Technology's blockchain integration technology to store the actual operating data of charging piles on the blockchain, transforming them into trustworthy digital assets and enabling cross-border financing.

Zhao Yongchao, Vice President of the Shanghai Data Exchange Research Institute, believes that data assets, after being managed and categorized by organizations, will gradually become one of the core assets of enterprises. They can leverage technological solutions like STO (Security Token Offering) and RWA to unlock economic value.

AI and Blockchain Synergy, Building a New Collaboration Model

Yan Ying, Chief Scientist of Ant Financial Technology, pointed out that AI mainly addresses productivity issues, while blockchain addresses production relations. Ant Financial Technology leverages the advantages of AI and blockchain technologies to establish mutual trust among parties, enabling low-cost and high-efficiency collaboration.

The trusted chip modules and trusted baseband chips jointly developed by Ant Chain and its partners ensure that device data is uploaded to the blockchain as it is generated. Currently, over 12 million physical devices have been reliably connected to the blockchain. Ant Chain can sustain stable operation with 1 billion daily transactions 1 billion accounts, achieving transaction performance at the twenty thousand level CTPS, providing robust support for enterprise digital collaboration.

Overseas Strategic Layout, Building a Global Service Ecosystem

Overseas expansion is a crucial strategy for Ant Financial Technology. Zhao Wenbiao revealed that he anticipates overseas business contributing 20% of total revenue in the future, becoming a significant growth driver.

In 2023, Ant Financial Technology's overseas business revenue growth reached 300%. Its mobile development platform mPaaS, security technology ZOLOZ, and Web3 technology service platform ZAN have served hundreds of overseas partners, covering various fields such as telecommunications, finance, and government affairs. They provide customized solutions for overseas clients.

Wang Wei, CTO of Ant Financial Technology, specifically highlighted ZOLOZ: "Over the years, we have been upgrading our solutions based on the scenarios and pain points of overseas clients. Many solutions are no longer based solely on the same technology as Alipay. The 300% growth in overseas business revenue is significantly attributed to ZOLOZs overseas clientele."

Regarding target markets, Ant Financial Technology focuses on Southeast Asia, including Indonesia, the Philippines, and Vietnam. Wang Wei compared the digitalization process in Southeast Asia to "China 5-8 years ago," suggesting that many emerging nations and regions in Southeast Asia have directly entered the mobile internet era without experiencing the PC era.

To better serve overseas markets, Ant Financial Technology no longer directly transplants its products from China. Instead, it develops localized products for overseas markets and has established localized R&D institutions and business expansion teams to better meet the needs of local clients.

Integrating Multiple Technologies, Large Language Models Are Not the Only Solution for Enterprise Digitalization

While large language model technology has garnered significant attention in recent years, Zhao Wenbiao believes that it is not the sole solution for enterprise digitalization. There are various needs in the enterprise digitalization process. Some can be addressed by large language models, but others cannot, he emphasized the need to combine large language models with technologies like IoT (Internet of Things), blockchain, privacy computing, security technology, and cloud computing to truly address the issues faced by the real economy and physical enterprises.

Ant Financial Technology has been committed to seeking technological convergence, transforming its technology products into trustworthy adhesives that connect various industries upstream and downstream, thereby significantly improving transaction efficiency.

Conclusion:

Ant Financial Technology has made remarkable progress in its first six months of independent operation. Its ABC strategy offers comprehensive services for enterprise digital transformation, particularly achieving significant breakthroughs in empowering the real economy with blockchain technology, overseas strategic layout, and technological convergence. In the future, Ant Financial Technology will continue adhering to the spirit of technological innovation to provide global enterprises with even better and more efficient digital services, driving global economic development.