Standard Chartered Bank (Hong Kong) has taken another decisive step in the institutional tokenisation playbook, successfully tokenising HKD, CNH and USD bank accounts for Ant International on the latter’s blockchain-based, real-time treasury platform, Whale.
The initiative, delivered under the Hong Kong Monetary Authority’s (HKMA) Supervisory Incubator for Distributed Ledger Technology and Project Ensemble, marks the commercial deployment of tokenised deposits following last year’s successful HKD blockchain test settlement between the two firms. Ant International becomes Standard Chartered Hong Kong’s first client to adopt the live solution.
In practical terms, this means Ant International’s global entities can now move value 24/7, inreal time, across three major currencies using tokenised bank deposits — all while remaining within the regulated banking perimeter.
From Sandbox to Balance Sheet
Project Ensemble has quietly become Hong Kong’s most credible institutional tokenisation laboratory, and this latest milestone suggests the experiment phase is ending. Both Standard Chartered and Ant International are members of EnsembleTX, the HKMA-backed industry group tasked with accelerating real-world adoption of tokenised assets.
Since May 2024, Standard Chartered Hong Kong has been contributing to the architecture community of Project Ensemble, helping design industry standards and test tokenisation use cases within the regulatory sandbox. Ant International, for its part, developed multiple use cases on its Whale platform, purpose-built for enterprise-grade treasury and cross-border payments.
Why Tokenised Deposits Matter (And Why CFOs Care)
Tokenised deposits sit at the increasingly important intersection of cash management, payments, and blockchain infrastructure. Unlike stablecoins, they represent claims on regulated bank deposits, preserving credit protection and regulatory oversight while unlocking blockchain efficiencies.
For Ant International, the integration of Standard Chartered’s accounts and tokenised deposits enables:
- Near real-time liquidity movement between global entities
- “Just-in-time” treasury management, reducing idle cash buffers
- 24/7 settlement across HKD, CNH and USD, irrespective of banking cut-off times
- More efficient working capital and cross-border payment orchestration
As Mahesh Kini, Global Head of Cash Management at Standard Chartered, put it, corporates are increasingly demanding “real-time and 24/7 treasury management” as liquidity becomes more surgical and less forgiving. Translation: waiting until Monday morning for cash to arrive is no longer a viable operating model.
Hong Kong’s Tokenisation Ambitions Take Shape
Anthony Lin, Head of Transaction Banking for Hong Kong, Greater China and North Asia at Standard Chartered, described the project as another milestone in the bank’s broader tokenisation journey — and a signal to the wider market.
From the HKMA’s perspective, Project Ensemble is doing exactly what regulators globally claim they want — enabling innovation without breaking the banking system in the process. By anchoring tokenisation to regulated institutions, Hong Kong is positioning itself as a credible hub for tokenised assets, rather than a speculative sideshow.
Tokenisation Grows Up
This collaboration also reinforces a broader industry trend: the convergence of traditional banking and blockchain rails. Rather than being disintermediated, banks like Standard Chartered are embedding tokenisation directly into cash management, payments and liquidity services.
For Ant International, combining its tokenisation and payments expertise with Standard Chartereds balance sheet and regulatory reach creates a scalable model for global corporates. For the market, it provides a template: tokenisation works best when it solves unsexy but mission-critical problems, like treasury visibility and cash velocity.
