Ant International’s Playbook on AI, blockchain and wallet network

During Ant International’s recent analyst and media briefings in Bangkok, I had the opportunity to engage with senior executives on their innovation agenda. Three key themes emerged that highlight how the company is competing in the future of global payments and commerce space.

Building a Global Payment Network Through Wallet Interoperability

Ant International is pursuing the bold vision to create a globally interoperable alternative payment network built on digital wallets. At the center of this strategy is Alipay+, a unified wallet gateway that connects over 1.8 billion consumer accounts across 40 wallet partners to 150 million merchants in more than 100 markets. In addition, by partnering with Mastercard, Alipay+ is bridging the gap between QR and NFC payments by enabling ‘tap-to-pay’ for users of supported e-wallet at 150 million Mastercard merchants.

Rather than introducing a new payment instrument, Alipay+ enables consumers to use their existing domestic wallets abroad—without currency conversion, new account setup, or added friction. I experienced this firsthand in Bangkok, where I used Singapore’s OCBC app to scan a Thai PromptPay QR code and pay in Singapore dollars, just as I would at home. This seamless experience illustrates the power of linking national domestic payment infrastructures and wallet ecosystems.

For merchants, Alipay+ offers a single integration point to accept a wide range of foreign wallets, eliminating the need for multiple bilateral agreements. This is especially valuable for SMBs and micro-merchants, who often lack the infrastructure to support traditional card acceptance or absorb high interchange fees. In 2025 alone, Ant processed over 2 billion cross-border transactions for merchants across Southeast Asia, South Asia, the Middle East, and Latin America.

Digital wallet operators also benefit by gaining international acceptance without building their own global acquiring networks. This model supports a more inclusive digital economy by enabling underserved consumers and merchants to participate in cross-border commerce using tools they already trust.

The long-term success of Alipay+ will depend on its ability to expand into strategic markets, maintain seamless user experiences, and deliver value across the payment value chain—from merchants and wallet providers to acquirers and consumers.

Whale: A Regulated, Bank-Centric Approach to Blockchain Settlement

While many global payment service providers, including Stripe, are exploring stablecoin-based settlement on public blockchains, Ant International is taking a different path. Its Whale platform focuses on tokenized bank deposits—digital representations of fiat held at regulated banks—to enable near-instant, 24/7 cross-border liquidity transfers.

In 2025, Whale processed over US$600 billion in global fund flows, with more than 95% settling on the same day. This approach aligns with regulatory expectations and reflects Ant’s strategic positioning as a Chinese-founded company operating globally. Given China’s restrictions on private stablecoins, deposit tokens offer a more compliant and stable alternative.

This strategy also fits the Asia-Pacific context, where stablecoin adoption for real-world payments remains limited. In markets like Singapore, where initiatives such as Project Guardian are exploring tokenized deposits and central bank digital currencies, Ant’s approach is both pragmatic and forward-compatible.

Crucially, Whale reinforces Ant’s collaborative posture. Rather than bypassing banks, Ant partners with institutions like Standard Chartered and HSBC to co-develop tokenized deposit solutions that integrate with existing infrastructure. This model accelerates adoption and positions Whale as a blueprint for how fintechs and banks can jointly modernize cross-border settlement.

If Whale can scale beyond Ant’s internal treasury use cases, it could emerge as a compelling alternative to both traditional correspondent banking and crypto-native stablecoin models—offering speed, transparency, and regulatory alignment.

Agentic Commerce: Enabling APMs with Embedded Risk Controls

As agentic commerce—where AI agents initiate transactions on behalf of users—moves from concept to reality, Ant International is differentiating itself through a focus on alternative payment methods (APMs) and merchant-centric fraud management.

Through its merchant payments arm, Antom, Ant is building an agentic payment stack tailored to the fragmented payment landscapes of Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East. In these regions, wallets, bank transfers, and domestic schemes dominate, making card-centric agentic models less relevant. Antom’s APM-first architecture positions it as a key enabler for merchants targeting mobile-first, underbanked consumers.

A standout innovation is EasySafePay, a credential custodianship and risk guarantee layer that fills a critical gap in APMs: the lack of a universal liability framework. When partner wallets delegate user tokens for agent-initiated payments, Antom assumes account-takeover liability, offering a “you spend, we cover” guarantee. This builds trust for both consumers and merchants, enabling broader adoption of agentic payments.

Antom also introduces a second layer of protection through Antom Shield, a proprietary risk engine that verifies alignment between user intent and agent behavior. For example, if a user authorizes a purchase for a specific item under a set budget, the system flags deviations—such as a different product or price—before the transaction completes. This semantic verification, powered by graph analytics and transformer-based models, is particularly suited to the nuances of AI-generated transactions.

While monetization is not the immediate focus, Antom sees agentic payments as foundational to the future of commerce. As AI agents evolve into traffic drivers and monetization channels, Antom’s infrastructure—covering credential management, risk, and processing—will be well-positioned to capture value through revenue-sharing models.

In a rapidly evolving space, Ant International’s agentic commerce strategy stands out for its commitment to APMs and its willingness to assume risk on behalf of users and merchants. This positions the company as a trusted infrastructure provider in the next wave of intelligent, AI-mediated commerce.