Business Wire

ANT-FINANCIAL

16.4.2020 09:21:10 CEST | Business Wire | Press release

Share
Ant Financial Opens Consortium Blockchain Platform to SMEs and Developers

Ant Financial today announced the launch of OpenChain, a blockchain platform that enables small and micro enterprises (SMEs) and developers to tap into Ant Financial’s proprietary consortium of blockchain technologies and deploy blockchain-powered smart contracts and decentralized apps (DApps) with higher efficiency and lower cost.

"Applications of blockchain technology have ballooned over the past few years,” said Jin Ge, General Manager of Blockchain Platforms at Ant Financial. “Through the launch of the OpenChain platform, we aim to help one million SMEs and developers innovate and explore more use cases in the next three years."

Ant Financial’s OpenChain provides developers with dozens of readily available modules that can be used in various combinations to build trust in multi-party collaborations, including in areas such as supply chain finance, product provenance, digital invoices and charitable donations. This helps to greatly reduce development and deployment costs for SMEs and developers, allowing them to focus on product and service delivery.

OpenChain features industry-leading blockchain technologies developed by Ant Financial to build trust in commercial and transactional use cases, the success of which typically depends on multi-party collaboration. These use cases require not only a trust mechanism among all parties, but also high-performance consensus algorithms that can complete authentication computation on the fly. Ant Financial’s OpenChain also uses trusted computing capabilities to enhance data security and protection for the apps running on its platform. A modular design makes it easy for SMEs and developers to start with a basic app and upgrade later as the business grows.

WhiteMatrix, a provider of individual developer services as well as enterprise blockchain app development services, has been using OpenChain to develop smart contracts for developers since the platform began its initial alpha testing in 2019.

“We are excited to partner with Ant Financial’s OpenChain," said Wu Xiao, the founder and CEO of WhiteMatrix. “The platform offers efficient blockchain development services, facilitates cost-effective smart contracts, and lowers the entry barrier for developers. Not only are OpenChain’s transaction speeds several times faster than public blockchain platforms like Ethereum, but the cost per transaction is only one tenth of others.”

Ant Financial Blockchain is the largest productivity blockchain platform in China with the ability to process and support one billion user accounts and one billion transactions every day. It has topped the global ranking for blockchain patent applications for the past three consecutive years (1) .

About Ant Financial

Ant Financial Services Group is dedicated to using technology to bring the world equal opportunities. Our technologies, including blockchain, artificial intelligence, security, Internet of Things and computing empower us and our ecosystem partners to serve the unbanked and underbanked, bringing more secure, transparent, cost-effective and inclusive financial services to individuals and small and micro-sized individual customer and small businesses worldwide.

Ant Financial has formed international partnerships with global strategic partners to serve local users in those markets, and we serve Chinese travelers overseas by connecting Alipay with online and offline merchants. Brands under Ant Financial include Alipay, Ant Fortune, MYbank, and WorldFirst. For more information on Ant Financial, please visit our website at www.antfin.com or follow us on Twitter @AntFinancial.

(1) Based on research conducted by IPRdaily (2019 , 2018 and 2017 , in Chinese).

About Business Wire

Business Wire
Business Wire
101 California Street, 20th Floor
CA 94111 San Francisco

http://businesswire.com

Subscribe to releases from Business Wire

Subscribe to all the latest releases from Business Wire by registering your e-mail address below. You can unsubscribe at any time.

Latest releases from Business Wire

Factbird Adds Quality & Compliance and Reports to its Manufacturing Intelligence Platform20.5.2026 08:00:00 CEST | Press release

Two new capabilities give multi-site manufacturers standardized workflows, traceable records, and automated reporting across every plant. Today, Factbird is announcing two major additions to its manufacturing intelligence platform: Quality & Compliance and Factbird Reports. Both address a problem that compounds as manufacturers grow. More sites mean more variation in how work gets done. More regulation means more documentation pressure on frontline teams. And more data, when fragmented across systems, often slows decisions rather than speeding them up. Solving this has traditionally meant large IT projects and months of deployment. “Enterprise manufacturers shouldn’t have to choose between capability and simplicity,” said Mogens Arne Hansen, Chief Technology and Product Officerat Factbird. “With Quality & Compliance and Reports, you can have standardized, audit-ready operations and automated performance reporting across every site, deployed in days, used by the people on the floor.” Qu

The LYCRA Company to Successfully Complete Comprehensive Financial Restructuring20.5.2026 04:23:00 CEST | Press release

Company positioned for long-term growth, operational excellence, and continued customer-focused innovationWill emerge from financial restructuring with enhanced financial flexibility and significantly less debtNew ownership and Board of Directors committed to executing on vision to take the business to the next levelBruce Rubin appointed Executive Chairman and Dean Williams appointed Interim Chief Executive Officer The LYCRA Company, LLC (“the Company”), a global leader in developing fiber and technology solutions for the apparel and personal care industries, will successfully complete its comprehensive financial restructuring process and emerge from Chapter 11 protection on May 20, 2026. The LYCRA Company has established a durable capital structure that will enable the Company’s pursuit of its growth strategy through investment in innovation, customer partnerships, and global operations. The Company will emerge from its comprehensive restructuring process with significantly enhanced f

Johns Manville Announces John Vasuta as New CEO19.5.2026 22:30:00 CEST | Press release

Johns Manville (JM), a global building and specialty products manufacturer and a Berkshire Hathaway company, announced today that Bob Wamboldt will retire and John Vasuta will assume the role of President and Chief Executive Officer, effective August 1, 2026. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260519630814/en/ John Vasuta will become JM's CEO and President on August 1, 2026. Vasuta joined Johns Manville in 2019 as President of the company’s Engineered Products business. He also serves on the Board of Directors for EJ, a global leader and private manufacturer of infrastructure access products for water, sewer, utilities, drainage and telecommunications. “It’s an extraordinary privilege to step into the role of CEO,” Vasuta said. “I’m deeply honored to continue serving our customers and supporting the employees whose dedication makes our success possible.” Before joining JM, John held leadership roles at Bridgeston

Mereo Insurance Announces Move into Excess Casualty Insurance19.5.2026 22:12:00 CEST | Press release

Mereo expands into Excess Casualty Insurance by acquiring renewal rights to Everen Specialty Ltd.’s Excess Casualty Energy portfolio. Mereo Insurance Limited (“Mereo”) today announced a renewal rights transaction with Everen Specialty Ltd. (“ESL”), a member of the Everen Group, for ESL’s Excess Casualty Energy portfolio. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260519154915/en/ David Croom-Johnson, President & Chief Executive Officer of Mereo Insurance Limited Under the transaction, Mereo will become the insurance carrier on a go-forward basis for both new and renewed business effective June 1, 2026. ESL’s underwriting team and underwriting systems supporting the Excess Casualty Energy portfolio will also transition to Mereo, led by former ESL Chief Underwriting Officer, Carla Greaves. Under the terms of the agreement, Mereo will provide ESL insureds with continuity of coverage, access to AM Best “A- rated” paper, and

Grid Dynamics Launches AI-Native Modernization on Azure, Targeting Larger Enterprise Deals19.5.2026 22:05:00 CEST | Press release

Key Takeaways: New offerings target modernization of large enterprises running mission-critical, high-transaction-volume legacy environments. As a Microsoft Azure specialized partner with five advanced specializations, including Infra & Database Migration, Grid Dynamics’ clients will receive free deployment support through the Azure Accelerate program. Built on the GAIN (Grid Dynamics AI-Native) Platform for SDLC, which has delivered 30%+ productivity gains in our benchmarks. Grid Dynamics extends its AI delivery model to Azure, drawing on extensive expertise in application migration for Fortune 1000 companies. In the first quarter of 2026, AI represented 29% of the company’s revenue. This was up from 25% in 2025 and was driven by deployments across industry verticals, including Technology, Financial Services, CPG, and Manufacturing. Grid Dynamics Holdings, Inc. (Nasdaq: GDYN) (“Grid Dynamics”), a premier AI transformation partner for the Fortune 1000, today announced an AI-native mode

In our pressroom you can read all our latest releases, find our press contacts, images, documents and other relevant information about us.

Visit our pressroom
World GlobeA line styled icon from Orion Icon Library.HiddenA line styled icon from Orion Icon Library.Eye