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

Arini Announces Final Close of Inaugural Direct Lending Fund, Targeting Over $4 Billion of Deployment21.10.2026 09:00:00 CEST | Press release

Arini, an alternative asset manager with $22 billion in assets under management as of 31 August 2026, today announces the final close of Arini Direct Lending Fund I. The Fund and related vehicles are targeting deployment of over $4 billion, including anticipated leverage, making it among the largest debut European direct lending funds ever raised. Arini has built a sizeable initial portfolio throughout the fundraise, focusing on senior secured loans to borrowers demonstrating recurring and underwritable cash flow profiles and operating in industries with limited risk of disruption. Total deployment for the strategy is now approaching $2 billion across a range of sectors and geographies, alongside founder-led, family-owned and sponsor-backed businesses. This scale of deployment, in conjunction with Arini’s highly selective underwriting standards, demonstrates the depth of the European middle market opportunity set. Unlike in the US, banks in Europe have a dominant market share in corpor

LemFi Launches Its Biggest Product Expansion Yet Alongside a New Global Brand, ‘Ambition has no passport’21.10.2026 09:00:00 CEST | Press release

LemFi launches the biggest product expansion in its history, adding UK savings, credit, and data eSIM in 100+ destinations A rebuilt app brings transfers, savings, credit and connectivity together in one platform for people building financial lives across borders New global brand, “Ambition has no passport”, reflects LemFi’s evolution from remittances into a broader financial platform serving more than two million customers LemFi, the financial platform for people building lives across borders, today announced the launch of its new global brand platform, “Ambition has no passport”, alongside a completely rebuilt app, launching the largest product expansion in its history. More than two million customers use LemFi to move money to more than 30 countries, with over $2 billion in monthly transaction volume, and the company plans to add more countries next year. The expanded platform now includes savings and credit in the UK, eSIMs in more than 100 destinations, alongside LemFi’s existing

Skechers Wins Major Victory Against Kizik in Patent Infringement Suit21.10.2026 09:00:00 CEST | Press release

Munich Court States that Kizik’s Patent Infringement Case Against Skechers is “Largely Unfounded” Skechers U.S.A., Inc. (“Skechers”), the third largest footwear company in the world and leader in hands-free footwear technology, announced today that it won a major legal and commercial victory in a patent infringement lawsuit filed by Fast IP, LLC (“Kizik”) against Skechers before the Unified Patent Court (“UPC”) in Munich. Skechers, the market leader in hands-free footwear, sells thousands of styles of hands-free shoes worldwide under its Slip-ins and Swift Fit trademarks. In 2025, Kizik sued Skechers at the UPC for alleged patent infringement involving four of its thousands of hands-free styles. Skechers won on three of the four styles, with the fourth being a minor and commercially insignificant style for Skechers. In its ruling, the Munich Court stated that Kizik’s infringement claims are “largely unfounded.” Skechers’ leading hands-free footwear position globally is the result of it

AI and Multichannel Communication Come to Italian Municipalities21.10.2026 09:00:00 CEST | Press release

ANCIcomunicare and Audiencerate join forces on a new platform for local authorities, built on Microsoft AI and Cloud, distributed by Postel, a Poste Italiane Group company, and available through MEPA ANCIcomunicare and Audiencerate are partnering to provide Italian municipalities and local authorities with a new platform dedicated to data management and multichannel communication. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20261019549522/en/ ANCIcomunicare and Audiencerate launch a partnership to bring Italian municipalities a platform that simplifies data management and digital communication with citizens across all channels. The solution enables municipalities to manage, through a single digital system, communication campaigns aimed at citizens and businesses across multiple channels, including WhatsApp, SMS and e-mail. The platform also integrates Artificial Intelligence and Microsoft Copilot capabilities, designed to s

Okomera Announces a Commercial Agreement With Servier to Use Its Tumor Miniaturization Technology for Cancer Research21.10.2026 08:00:00 CEST | Press release

Okomera reaches a key milestone in its industrial rollout with the first commercial installation of its integrated platform, combining hardware, software and biology, in the laboratories of an international pharmaceutical group. Servier will use Okomera’s technology to evaluate new therapeutic approaches in oncology and immuno-oncology. Okomera, a TechBio company pioneering personalized cancer care through a proprietary technology platform combining tumor mini-avatars, microfluidics, and AI-powered imaging, today announced the signing of a commercial agreement with Servier, an independent international pharmaceutical group, to use its technology in the development of new cancer treatments. With more than 90% of oncology drug candidates never reaching the market, identifying early on the therapeutic approaches most likely to succeed is a critical challenge for the pharmaceutical industry. Okomera’s technology helps precisely reduce this attrition, by steering development toward candidat

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