Alibaba affiliate fintech giant Ant Group, the parent company of Alipay, filed a trademark application in June for AntCoin in Hong Kong. However, the filing was only recently spotted in Hong Kong’s Intellectual Property Department database. The initiative suggests that the firm plans to expand into blockchain-based financial services and stablecoins.
The June filing comes just days before Ant Group Chairman Eric Jing is scheduled to speak alongside Hong Kong’s Secretary for Financial Services Christopher Hui and Primavera Capital’s Fred Hu at next week’s Hong Kong Fin Tech Week. The event will have a crypto-heavy agenda compared to its usual tradFi-focused agenda.
Ant Group’s trademark spans across all major financial activities
According to AntCoin’s filing, the trademark specification spans nearly all major financial activities, including traditional banking, lending, and FX to blockchain-based settlement, stablecoin issuance, digital-asset custody, and loyalty rewards. The proposal will position the firm as a bridge between Ant’s payments ecosystem and Hong Kong’s regulated Web3 economy.
Ant Group’s trademark licence doesn’t reveal whether the company plans to launch a token or stablecoin. However, it sets legal protection for the firm across financial services, including both traditional finance and emerging blockchain technologies.
The trademark, filed with Hong Kong’s Intellectual Property Department, comes with a comprehensive approach that gives Ant Group flexibility in how it might use the AntCoin brand. The firm is yet to issue public statements about the specific plans for AntCoin.
Joshua Chu, co-chair of the Hong Kong Web3 Association, said that Ant Group’s initiative to file for trademarks appears as a strategic move to protect its interests in the mainland’s digital asset industry. He also argued that Ant Group’s next move would broaden its decisions about resolving issues, which Chu noted had caused the firm’s ambitions to be frozen in the first place.
Chu also cautioned that there have been instances where unauthorized or fraudulent tokens impersonate tokens like USDT without actually being issued by Tether. He also warned that other scammers have created tokens on various blockchains that use similar names, symbols, or contact addresses to appear legitimate.
Chu also revealed that there are high-fidelity copycat contracts in the crypto sector that can deceive users into believing they hold actual stablecoins. He argued that such operations are among the risks that stablecoin firms, such as Ant Group, which are looking to establish a business in Hong Kong, would face. Chu maintained that trademark protection is a prudent and essential part of risk management.
Ant Group has been steadily adopting blockchain and digital infrastructure over the years, including a partnership with Circle in July. The firm revealed that the collaboration aimed to pilot USDC-based cross-border payments between Ant International’s Alipay network and select global merchants.
Ant Group and JD.com pause stablecoin initiatives
Ant Group’s trademark initiative is part of a series of moves by other Hong Kong-based tech firms, such as JD.com, that have been testing stablecoin pilots in the mainland. The tech company also launched its new digital asset licensing framework in August.
Last week, the People’s Bank of China (PBoC) and the Cyberspace Administration of China ordered Ant Group and JD.com to pause their plans to issue stablecoins in Hong Kong amid heightened U.S.-China trade tensions. Both firms were planning to participate in Beijing’s new stablecoin pilot program, as part of its plan to establish itself as Asia’s regulated crypto hub.
Hong Kong had already established the licensing framework for fiat-backed stablecoins in August. The Hong Kong Monetary Authority stated that the new laws are designed to create a legal framework for token issuers to operate.
Ant Group announced in June plans to seek stablecoin licenses in Singapore, Hong Kong, and Luxembourg, furthering its efforts to expand cross-border. The initiative follows Hong Kong’s legislature passing a stablecoin bill in May that provided regulatory clarity for fiat-based stablecoin issuers in the country. The new regulatory framework expects stablecoin issuers in Hong Kong to obtain a licence from the Hong Kong Monetary Authority.
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