Ant International, a global digital‑payment and fintech firm, partnered with BNP Paribas to pilot a tokenised‑deposit framework that lets fiat deposits held at the bank be represented as digital tokens on a distributed ledger. 

The tokens are fully backed by regulated bank money, enabling Ant’s internal blockchain‑based treasury platform (Whale) to move euro‑denominated liquidity 24 hours a day across Europe and major global hubs such as Singapore, Hong Kong and New York, thereby reducing reliance on pre‑funded balances and traditional T+1 settlement bottlenecks.

The early‑stage deployment has shown that real‑time tokenised liquidity can reduce Ant’s working‑capital needs by more than 60 % and similarly lower FX‑hedging costs, because funds can be repositioned on demand rather than being tied up in multiple jurisdictions. The model is designed for production scale, supporting thousands of transactions and providing a regulated, bank‑backed route for European liquidity that can be extended to broader multicurrency treasury operations.

Kelvin Li, General Manager of Platform Tech and Senior Vice President at Ant International: 

“BNP Paribas is one of our main banking partners in Europe, and it was a pleasure to work the transaction banking team to co-create a blockchain-based solution that gives us real-time treasury capabilities. This will enable us to serve our ecosystem and customers more efficiently and seamlessly, while lowering risk, cost, and improving the overall experience.”

Read the entire Treasury Management International article in the pdf below: