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Standard Chartered + Ant Whale

APACtokenized depositproductionOperator: Standard Chartered + Ant InternationalIssuance unverified

Production tokenized-deposit launch on Ant International's Whale platform, with Standard Chartered as the issuing bank. Live in HKD, CNH, USD, and SGD from 18 December 2025 for corporate-treasury flows. Structurally distinct from the bank-built tokenisation rails (Kinexys, CTS, Wells Fargo Digital Cash) because the platform is operated by a non-bank technology company rather than the bank itself.

Operating details

How it actually settles
Architecture

The Whale platform is a permissioned tokenisation infrastructure built and operated by Ant International (the Singapore-headquartered international corporate-treasury arm of Ant Group), with Standard Chartered acting as the issuing bank for tokenised deposits in HKD, CNH, USD, and SGD. The on-chain instrument represents a tokenised deposit liability of the relevant SC entity, with corporate-treasury clients able to move balances 24/7 across the supported currency set. Ant International runs the platform; Standard Chartered runs the bank-side issuance, KYC, and balance-sheet treatment. The structural choice (regional GSIB issuing onto a non-bank platform rather than building proprietary equivalent) is a meaningful institutional-adoption signal for the platform model.

Participants

Standard Chartered · Ant International · Mahesh Kini (SC Group Head of Cash Management) · HKMA (Hong Kong supervisor) · MAS (Singapore supervisor) · Reportedly: at least ten major banks under integration discussion

Scale

Production launched 18 December 2025 with the four currency set live from day one. Specific transaction volumes are not publicly disclosed. Ant International has signalled plans to onboard at least ten major banks as integrated participants, though that roster is forward-looking rather than verified.

Regulatory wrapper

Tokenised deposits are deposit liabilities of the issuing Standard Chartered entity, supervised by the relevant local regulator (HKMA for HKD, MAS for SGD, the PBoC's offshore-RMB framework for CNH, and SC's relevant US entity for USD). The Ant International platform operates as a technology vendor; the bank retains the deposit relationship and balance-sheet exposure. No separate stablecoin or e-money licence is required because the on-chain instrument is bank money rather than a payment token.

Known limits

The cross-bank participant set is at MoU and integration-discussion stage rather than at production. Cross-currency atomic settlement between currencies is not yet published as an in-production capability. No retail access. No published interoperability path with Partior, Kinexys, or other regional tokenised-deposit rails.

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