The project was implemented as part of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority’s (HKMA) Project Ensemble, which supports regulated experimentation with distributed ledger technology across the financial sector. The solution operates on Ant International’s Whale platform and enables treasury transfers to be executed around the clock rather than during limited banking hours. The system is designed for corporate treasury operations and aims to improve liquidity management efficiency and cash-flow transparency across large corporate structures.
Live Treasury Adoption Marks Next Step for Tokenized Deposits
Standard Chartered worked with Ant International to integrate tokenized deposits directly into the Whale platform, which Ant uses for treasury and liquidity management. This architecture allows Ant International to transfer funds between internal entities at any time, without waiting for standard settlement windows.
Treasury teams gain the ability to monitor balances continuously, changing how liquidity planning is conducted across global business units. Tokenized deposits represent actual bank deposits issued by Standard Chartered and digitally recorded on a blockchain. Each token is fully backed by funds held on the bank’s balance sheet.
This model differs fundamentally from stablecoins, which often rely on reserves held outside the traditional banking system. In this structure, Ant International uses tokenized deposits within its Whale platform, while Standard Chartered remains the issuing bank and custodian of the underlying funds. Transfers within the system occur almost instantly, including outside normal banking hours, significantly increasing treasury operational responsiveness.
Project Ensemble and Current Settlement Constraints
The launch takes place within Project Ensemble, an HKMA initiative designed to test distributed ledger technologies in a regulated environment. Standard Chartered’s participation allows the bank to assess how tokenization can be embedded within existing legal and banking frameworks.
The technology enables near-instant movement of funds in Hong Kong dollars, offshore Chinese yuan, and U.S. dollars—currencies that are critical for global treasury functions. However, interbank settlements still depend on Hong Kong’s real-time gross settlement system (RTGS).
This means that while internal transfers within a single bank are significantly accelerated, interbank transactions are not yet fully real-time. As a result, the immediate benefit of tokenized deposits is currently limited to internal liquidity management rather than market-wide instant settlement. The current structure illustrates how blockchain tools are complementing, rather than replacing, traditional financial infrastructure.
Corporate treasury efficiency and transparency
Standard Chartered designed the tokenized deposit system specifically for corporate treasury use. Ant International is the first company to deploy it in day-to-day operations. Large corporate groups can reduce idle balances by reallocating liquidity more frequently and with greater visibility.
The ability to move funds between entities at any time supports tighter cash management and greater operational flexibility. Treasury teams can also track funds in real time, improving short-term planning and balance management. These capabilities address long-standing challenges related to cut-off times, batch processing, and delayed settlements.
Technology Framework and Industry Landscape
From a technical perspective, tokenized deposits use blockchain technology to represent value digitally, which makes them comparable to stablecoins at a structural level. The key distinction lies in the backing model: deposits remain within regulated banks rather than relying on external reserve structures.