Chinese fintech giant Ant Group expands blockchain units’ registered capital

Ant Digital Technologies, the blockchain arm of Alibaba’s fintech affiliate Ant Group, has expanded the registered capital for two subsidiaries, as the Chinese conglomerate continues its blockchain drive.

The fintech giant has confirmed with The Block that Ant Blockchain Technology (Shanghai) Co. has recently amended its business registration with Chinese authorities, expanding its registered capital to 1.5 billion yuan ($206.4 million) from 100 million yuan.

Founded in December 2018, the blockchain unit is registered to operate in businesses including software development, hardware retail and information technology services.

Ant Chain (Shanghai) Digital Technology Co. — another subsidiary of Ant Digital Technologies — also previously increased its registered capital to 2.1 billion yuan ($288.9 million) from 100 million yuan, the company said.

“Due to the needs of business development, the board of directors of Ant Digital Technologies has approved an increase in the registered capital of Ant Blockchain Technology (Shanghai) Co. Ltd,” an Ant Digital Technologies spokesperson said in an emailed response.

While China banned all cryptocurrency transactions on the mainland in September 2021, the country remains open to homegrown blockchain technology and digital economies — with Chinese tech giants such as Alibaba and Tencent focusing on developing their own consortium blockchains.

Ant Group, for example, launched its blockchain brand Ant Chain in July 2020. In September 2023, Ant Digital Technologies launched its overseas blockchain brand ZAN .

Ant Digital Technologies is also part of the blockchain industry community that Hong Kong formed in May to develop wholesale central bank digital currency and tokenization.

Update: Added comment from Ant Digital Technologies