Jack Ma–Backed Ant Group Unit Leverages Blockchain for $8B Energy Asset Overhaul

A unit of Ant Group is reportedly tying more than 60b yuan, or about $8.4b, of energy infrastructure and power assets to its blockchain, marking one of the most ambitious real-world applications of digital ledgers in China.

Bloomberg reported Tuesday that Ant Digital Technologies, the enterprise arm of the Jack Ma-backed fintech giant, has linked more than 15m devices such as wind turbines and solar panels to its AntChain platform. The system records power output and monitors outages, creating an immutable stream of data from the grid.

The company has already taken steps beyond tracking. It has issued tokens tied to some of those assets and used them to raise capital. Financing worth about 300m yuan ($42m) has been secured for three clean energy projects through the new structure.

By cutting traditional financial intermediaries out of the process, companies can use tokenization to raise money more efficiently. Instead of going through loan officers and underwriters, project operators can offer digital tokens directly to investors that represent fractional ownership or revenue rights.

Ant Digital Channels 300M Yuan Into Renewables Through Tokenized Assets

Ant Digital has tested this model with offshore investors. In August last year, it helped Longshine Technology Group, a Shenzhen-listed energy firm, raise 100m yuan.

More than 9,000 of the company’s charging units were linked to AntChain. A few months later, it arranged over 200m yuan in funding for GCL Energy Technology by connecting its photovoltaic assets to the blockchain.

In total, Ant Digital has already tied over 60b yuan of energy-related assets to AntChain, giving the initiative a scale that stands out in the global tokenization push.

Executives are now weighing whether to extend the approach to offshore exchanges to create liquidity for the tokens, Bloomberg said. The plans remain tentative and depend heavily on regulatory clearance.

Global Tokenization Still Nascent But Momentum Builds

Tokenization of energy assets is still in its early days globally. Yet interest has been growing as regulators in markets such as the US and Europe have introduced clearer frameworks for digital assets, while blockchains like Ethereum and Polygon have matured enough to support automated compliance.

Other companies are experimenting in parallel. Securitize has brought equities and bonds onto blockchain rails, Ondo Finance and BlackRock’s BUIDL product are focusing on tokenized Treasuries, and RealT and Lofty are offering fractional real estate.

These developments suggest a broader shift toward digitizing real-world assets, with Ant’s push adding energy infrastructure to the mix.

Ant Reinvents Itself Through Cross-Border Financial Services

For Ant, blockchain has become a cornerstone of its international strategy. The firm is best known for running Alipay, but since Beijing halted its record IPO in 2020 and curtailed its online lending business, it has shifted focus to cross-border payments and enterprise services.

As of June, the company was exploring stablecoin licenses in hubs such as Singapore and Hong Kong. Its Whale blockchain already processes a share of the more than $1 trillion that Ant’s global payments platform handled last year.

The pivot shows how Ant is trying to reinvent itself after regulatory setbacks at home. By linking clean energy projects to its blockchain, the company is betting that tokenization can draw in new investors and accelerate the flow of capital into infrastructure.

Turning energy output into tradable digital assets could open financing channels that were once reserved for large institutions, widening access at a time when China is racing to expand its renewable power capacity.

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