Ant Group, the Chinese giant behind the world’s largest mobile payment platform, Alipay, has expanded the registered capital of its two blockchain subsidiaries to 3.6 billion yuan.
The move was first reported by Chinese ‘crypto’ news outlet ODaily, but the company has since confirmed it to other media platforms.
Ant Blockchain Technology (Shanghai) Co. has amended its registration documents with Chinese authorities to indicate that its registered capital now stands at 1.5 billion yuan ($206.5 million), up from its previous 100 million yuan.
Ant Group says the move is all part of its efforts to respond to business needs.
“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,” a spokesperson for the Hangzhou-based giant said.
Days prior, Ant Chain (Shanghai) Digital Technology Co, another blockchain subsidiary, revised its registered capital upwards from 100 million yuan to 2.1 billion yuan ($289 million).
AntChain launched in 2020 to house the company’s blockchain developments. At launch, Ant Group stated that the new outfit would “contribute to the acceleration of blockchain-enabled industry transformations,” including creating “tangible value” for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).
At launch, AntChain signed a deal with global computing giants HP (NASDAQ: HPQ), Lenovo (NASDAQ: LNVGF), Dell (NASDAQ: DELL), and Intel (NASDAQ: INTC) to offer affordable IT leasing services via its blockchain channels.
Last year, it launched a privacy-focused computing platform for the AI and machine learning industry. It partnered with Intel for hardware support and relied on security technology such as blockchain’s distributed key management.
Ant Group’s blockchain endeavors have extended into the development of digital currencies. A recent white paper by JPMorgan (NASDAQ: JPM) revealed that the Chinese firm has been central to the distribution of its JPM Coin.
Ant Group has processed billions of dollars in JPM Coin, leading to benefits such as reduced funding costs and liquidity risks. The firm’s blockchain platform enabled real-time synchronization of balances for enhanced data consistency, JPMorgan said.