The New Battlefield of Stablecoins - From Ant Group to JD.com, Are Tech Giants Competing to "Print Money"?

Written by: Luke, Mars Finance

As the wheels of history roll forward, there are always some seemingly inconspicuous nodes that, in retrospect, turn out to be the pivot points of an entire era. On June 12, 2025, when news spread in the market that Ant Group planned to apply for a stablecoin license in Hong Kong, many people's first reaction might have been "another giant has entered the arena." However, the capital market provided a more dramatic and honest response.

After the news broke, Yunfeng Financial (0376.HK), regarded as one of the core "Jack Ma concept stocks", saw its stock price soar like a rocket, skyrocketing nearly 99% during trading. Although it later retreated somewhat, this almost frenzied upward trend was like a drop of hot oil hitting a raging fire, instantly igniting the market's imagination about a new era of digital finance. This was not based on a rigorous analysis of financial reports, but rather an outpouring of emotion, a "vote of confidence" cast with real money. The market logic is simple and brutal: as Ant Group turns its massive ship towards the new blue ocean of stablecoins, the immense potential it represents allows all relevant parties within the ecosystem to bask in a golden halo.

The stock price fluctuations of Yunfeng Financial are the best proof of the power of this "heavy bomb." It eloquently indicates that Ant Group's entry into stablecoins is not merely an industry news but a strategic signal capable of leveraging massive capital and triggering significant changes in the market landscape. This gunshot may mark the official beginning of a new era in the construction of financial infrastructure.

This is no longer a story about "speculating on coins," but rather a prologue to how payments, trade, assets, and trust are being reshaped globally. The protagonists of this story have also shifted from the early crypto pioneers filled with geek culture to the tech giants and financial institutions we know today.

Hong Kong's "Yangmou": From Regulatory "Sandbox" to Global Digital Financial Hub

To understand why Ant Group is pulling the trigger at this moment, we must first turn our attention to the stage where the story unfolds — Hong Kong. This city is laying a clear and compliant runway for the future of digital assets with astonishing determination and efficiency.

After nearly two and a half years, from conception to formal publication, the implementation of the "Stablecoin Regulation" has sent a clear signal to the world: what Hong Kong aims to do is not to block or prohibit, but to embrace and lead. Unlike many regions around the world that are still debating how to regulate crypto assets, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) has presented a combination of measures that involves both incentives and regulations. On one hand, by establishing a strict licensing system, it requires issuers to have strong capital strength, a comprehensive risk control system, and 100% reserve support, keeping "bad money" and potential risks at bay. On the other hand, through the "Stablecoin Issuer Sandbox Program", it actively invites and nurtures potential "good money".

This approach can be described as a "yangmou". It cleverly transforms regulation from a restriction into an empowerment. For stablecoins, their lifeline lies in "stability", and the foundation of that stability is trust. A regulatory framework backed by the government is precisely the most solid cornerstone for building this trust. It tells the market: the stablecoins issued here are backed by assets that are real and verifiable, redemption is guaranteed, and the rights of investors are protected.

Before Ant, JD.com's JD Coin Chain Technology, Yuanbi Technology, and international banking giant Standard Chartered had already entered the sandbox as the "first person to eat crabs". This in itself paints a picture of the future: technology companies provide scenarios and technologies, and financial institutions provide compliance and fund management experience to jointly build a stablecoin ecosystem. Hong Kong's plan is not just to become another cryptocurrency trading center, but to seize the key "connector" of stablecoins and build itself into a global core hub connecting traditional finance with the future digital economy. When the world's capital, technology and talent flock to Victoria Harbour because of this certainty, a new story of an international financial center has begun.

Ant's "Dual-Line Warfare": The Open Scheme of Payment Going Abroad and Asset On-Chain

On the well-prepared stage in Hong Kong, the appearance of Ant Group is particularly eye-catching. What is even more intriguing is that what has emerged this time is not Ant Group itself, but rather two elite teams that have already been independently operating under its umbrella: Ant International and Ant Digital Technologies. This is not merely an internal competition, but a meticulously planned "dual-line battle"; the two lines seem parallel yet achieve perfect synergy on the strategic high ground of stablecoins.

The first front is led by Ant International, headquartered in Singapore, and its core is "Payment Going Abroad." Ant International includes core businesses such as Alipay+, WorldFirst, etc., and is essentially a large global payment and fund clearing network. According to public information, its global transaction volume has reached the trillion-dollar level. For such a giant handling massive cross-border transactions, the existing traditional cross-border payment system based on the agency model has many pain points, including high costs, slow speeds, and lack of transparency in processes.

Stablecoins are the "silver bullet" that addresses these pain points. Imagine a small to medium-sized Chinese enterprise using the Wanlihui service to pay a European customer for goods. In the traditional model, this payment would need to go through several banks for clearing and currency exchange, taking several days and incurring costs at every step. In the future scenario with stablecoins, this payment can be completed nearly instantly and at a very low cost through peer-to-peer settlement on the blockchain. In this context, stablecoins serve as an efficient and low-cost medium for value settlement. Ant International's application for a stablecoin license is aimed at turning this future scenario into reality, equipping its vast payment network with a more powerful "engine". Previously, Ant International became the first client of HSBC's tokenized deposit settlement service, clearly indicating its ambition for a revolution in capital flow efficiency.

The second front is led by Ant Group's digital technology, headquartered in Hong Kong, with its core focus on "asset on-chain". If Ant International is concerned with the flow of "money", then Ant Digital Technology focuses on the digitalization of "goods". Ant Digital Technology is derived from Ant Chain, and its core competitiveness lies in the integration of blockchain technology and physical industries. In fact, the tokenization of real-world assets (RWA) is a concentrated embodiment of this strategy.

In August 2024, Ant Group collaborated with Longxin Group to complete the first domestic RWA project based on new energy physical assets in Hong Kong. In this case, the future income rights of individual charging piles were packaged, split, and converted into digital certificates (Tokens) on the blockchain, allowing them to be held and traded by a broader range of investors. This greatly activated the massive assets that had been stagnant in the real economy, providing them with unprecedented liquidity.

However, in the grand narrative of RWA, there is always a key missing link: how should these digital physical assets be valued and traded? Using highly volatile cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin or Ethereum would undoubtedly introduce significant risks, causing institutional investors to hesitate. Stablecoins, on the other hand, are the perfect answer to this problem. A compliant, stable-value digital dollar or digital Hong Kong dollar is the ideal medium of exchange and unit of value for the RWA market.

At this point, Ant Group's "dual-line warfare" logic loop is formed: Ant Technology utilizes technology to move massive amounts of real-world assets (RWA) onto the blockchain, creating a brand new digital asset "shelf"; while Ant International provides a reliable "price tag" and efficient "cash register" for this shelf by issuing and operating compliant stablecoins. The two lines support each other, jointly building a complete digital financial ecosystem from the asset side to the funding side. This is far from just a simple payment or technology layout, but a profound reconstruction of the future financial market infrastructure.

Beyond Ants: A Race for the "New Continent" Gathering Giants

As we zoom out from the ant, we find that this racetrack is already filled with heavyweight contenders. This is not the ant's solo performance, but a "New World" discovery race involving both old and new giants on a global scale.

In mainland China, another tech giant known alongside Ant Group is JD.com, which has already secured a place in the Hong Kong Monetary Authority's stablecoin sandbox through its JD Coin blockchain technology. Its testing scenarios are directly aimed at cross-border payments, investment trading, and retail payments, showing that it also recognizes the tremendous potential of stablecoins in the e-commerce and financial ecosystem. Subsequently, Xiaomi's Tianxing Bank announced a partnership with it, further unveiling the beginning of collaborations among major internet companies around Web3. Meanwhile, Lianlian Digital, which has been deeply engaged in the payment sector for many years, not only holds 65 global payment licenses but has also obtained a Virtual Asset Trading Platform (VATP) license in Hong Kong. The news of its establishment of a dedicated team for the stablecoin project indicates that a full-link closed loop of "payment + trading + stablecoin" is in the works.

Looking globally, the intensity of this competition is unparalleled. Payment giant PayPal has already launched its own US dollar stablecoin PYUSD and is actively expanding its applications in payment and remittance scenarios. Credit card organizations Mastercard and Visa are also collaborating with stablecoin issuers to explore integrating digital currency settlement capabilities into their vast global merchant networks. Meanwhile, the United States, Singapore, Luxembourg, and even South Korea are accelerating the improvement of their stablecoin regulatory frameworks.

This global race clearly reveals a trend: stablecoins are undergoing a profound "identity transformation." They are evolving from being used as "chips" for hedging and trading within the early cryptocurrency world to being widely recognized by mainstream finance and technology, capable of carrying real-world economic activities as "digital cash." Its core value is no longer speculative hype, but rather the immense potential it demonstrates as a financial tool in enhancing efficiency, reducing costs, and creating new markets.

From this perspective, both Hong Kong's "Stablecoin Ordinance" and the rush of companies like Ant Group and JD.com to enter the market are not isolated events. They are inevitable products of the wave of digitalization and intelligence in the global financial system. The core of this wave is to reshape the trust mechanism with technology and build a more efficient value network with code. In this grand transformation, whoever can first establish a compliant, efficient, and application-rich stablecoin ecosystem will occupy the most advantageous position in the next generation of global financial competition.

Conclusion: When a drop of water merges into the sea

Looking back at the summer of 2025, Ant Group's application for a Hong Kong stablecoin license was like a stone thrown into a calm lake, creating ripples that will far exceed people's initial imagination. What it signifies is a farewell of digital assets to the "wild era" and a formal entry into a construction phase led by the "regular army."

This is no longer just about a breakthrough for a company or a technology; it is about the evolution of the entire financial paradigm. When the bridge of stablecoins is firmly established, we will see trillions of physical assets awakened, obtaining unprecedented liquidity; small and medium-sized business owners around the world will be able to enjoy near-zero-cost instant cross-border settlement services; ordinary investors will also be able to participate in global asset allocation more safely and conveniently.

The ultimate form of stablecoins may seamlessly integrate into the capillaries of daily economic activities, much like the electronic payments we use today, becoming an indispensable source of water and electricity in the digital economy era. Companies like Ant Group, JD.com, and PayPal, the pioneers of today, are laying the first cornerstone for this future. This new land, constructed by code, assets, and trust, may be far more vast and fertile than we can imagine today. The prologue of history has already been written. And the magnificent main text is waiting for all of us to witness and participate.