Ant Group’s Crypto Venture in Energy Infrastructure
A division of the Chinese fintech powerhouse Ant Group is in the process of tokenizing over $8 billion worth of energy infrastructure on its proprietary blockchain.
Ant Digital Technologies, which serves as the enterprise solutions arm of the Jack Ma-supported Ant Group, is working on tokenizing 60 billion yuan ($8.4 billion) of power infrastructure on its AntChain network, as reported by Bloomberg, referencing sources familiar with the situation.
The organization has been tracking power generation and outages from 15 million energy devices, comprising wind turbines and solar panels throughout China, and transmitting this information to their blockchain, according to the report.
Ant Digital has successfully secured financing for three clean energy initiatives through asset tokenization, amassing approximately 300 million yuan ($42 million) in total. The next phase will involve issuing tokens that are connected to these assets.
One potential avenue for the company’s future growth is to list tokens on decentralized offshore exchanges, which could enhance liquidity for the assets, although this depends on regulatory approval, according to anonymous insiders.
In August 2024, Ant Digital raised 100 million yuan ($14 million) for energy company Longshine Technology Group and integrated 9,000 of its electric charging units with AntChain.
In December, they achieved over 200 million yuan ($28 million) for GCL Energy Technology by linking photovoltaic assets to its blockchain.
Asset tokenization enables companies to avoid traditional financial intermediaries by directly issuing digital tokens to investors.
This model offers numerous advantages, including eliminating middlemen like loan officers and underwriters, reducing costs, accelerating access to funding, and allowing retail investors who are often shut out from infrastructure financing to participate.
In July, it was reported that Ant Group was collaborating with stablecoin issuer Circle to incorporate USDC into its blockchain platform.
At the same time, the group’s global division, Ant International, has been utilizing its infrastructure for cross-border corporate payments and is actively applying for licenses related to stablecoins.
Although real-world asset tokenization is still in its early stages, onchain value has nearly doubled since the start of the year, hitting a record high of $28.4 billion this week, according to RWA.xyz.
More than half of this amount consists of tokenized private credit, with slightly over a quarter made up of tokenized US Treasurys. Ethereum continues to dominate the market for tokenizing real-world assets, holding a 57% market share.
