Ant Group is betting that the next leap forward in digital finance will not be in a bank but on Ethereum.
On October 14, the Chinese fintech giant behind the 1.4 billion-user Alipay payment network launched Jovay, a new layer 2 (L2) blockchain built on Ethereum to move real-world assets (RWA) on-chain at an institutional scale.
What is Jovay?
Ant Digital, the blockchain division of Ant Group, describes Jovay as an “AI-assisted, compliance-focused scaling network” that aims to integrate real-world data and value flows into decentralized finance.
The platform uses two provers, a zero-knowledge and optimistic hybrid, to ensure both scalability and verifiability. It is deliberately launching without a native token, signaling a focus on enterprise and institutional adoption rather than retail speculation.
The implications are vast. Alipay has 1.4 billion monthly active users and handles billions in payment volumes each year. If even a fraction of this activity migrates to the Ethereum rails via Jovay, the network could become one of the most important infrastructure bridges in global finance.
According to Jovay’s technical paper, the network achieved between 15,700 and 22,000 transactions per second (TPS) during testnet trials and is aiming for 100,000 TPS through node clustering and horizontal expansion.
This would be significantly higher than what is currently available in the layer 2 Ethereum ecosystem, led by Coinbase-backed Base. According to L2Beats data, Base processes approximately 93 TPS.
The RWA thesis
Real-world assets (RWA) have gradually become the fastest growing segment of Ethereum. According to RWA.xyz, the value of treasuries, invoices and funds tokenized on Ethereum now exceeds $12 billion, an increase of more than 300% since the start of 2024.
Yet most of this liquidity remains confined to niche protocols with limited regulation.
Jovay’s model introduces a five-step pipeline: asset registration, structuring, tokenization, issuance and trading. Each step incorporates verification checkpoints and off-chain data attestations, giving regulators the same visibility they would have in traditional finance.
By integrating AntChain’s business ledger with Ethereum, Jovay could enable bilateral settlements between licensed institutions and on-chain liquidity providers.
For example, a bank issuing a digital bond on Jovay could instantly settle with a DeFi counterparty without exposing internal data or violating jurisdictional controls.
Considering this, Abbas Khan, Head of Founder Success at the Ethereum Foundation, said:
“This is not another startup experiment. It is a signal that the next phase of global finance is being built on Ethereum rails… In China, Alipay is not an app; it is a layer of infrastructure for daily life, payments, lending, insurance, identity, mobility, and more. And now Ant Group is putting that infrastructure on-chain.”
The macro bet behind Ant’s blockchain
Ant Group’s foray into Ethereum signals a structural shift in how global fintechs view blockchain risk.
For years, large companies have favored permissioned ledgers like Hyperledger to avoid volatility and exposure to the public chain. This calculus is evolving as governments and other large financial institutions increasingly experiment with public blockchains like Ethereum for their own interests.
By building Jovay on Ethereum rather than a proprietary network, Ant effectively validates public infrastructure as the foundation of institutional finance.
Additionally, the move is a hedge against technological isolation and a play on interoperability, as any asset created on Jovay can, in principle, access Ethereum’s $100 billion DeFi ecosystem.
The cost profile supports this decision.
Reports have revealed that the Coinbase-backed Base network has contributed less than $5 million in blob and settlement fees to Ethereum’s layer 1 validators since its launch in 2023. This represents a 98% margin over what a standalone chain would face in validator expenses.
For Ant, this efficiency translates into cheaper settlements for its billion-scale user base.
Ethereum’s quiet victory
Jovay’s debut also reflects Ethereum’s slow gaining of institutional trust. What once felt like a volatile experience has become a neutral settlement layer that banks and fintech giants can rely on without ceding control.
If Jovay gains traction, Ethereum’s token financial share could expand beyond the current RWA slot.
This would mean that each new asset class introduced to the chain, including energy credits and local government bonds, will create new demand for ETH block space and liquidity delivery.
As Khan said, Ant’s move suggests that the next billion users won’t arrive via memecoins or yield farming.
Instead, they will appear because their assets, savings, and credit instruments quietly migrate onto compliant rails that run on Ethereum.
