By
Steve Muchoki
April 23rd, 2024
ZAN is powered by technical innovations from AntChain Open Labs.
Chinese fintech giant Ant Group, the creator of the world’s biggest payment platform Alipay, is expanding its foothold into the crypto industry with the launch of ZAN, a blockchain service platform aimed at both Hong Kong and global markets to simplify the complexities of blockchain technology.
In a press release published on September 8, the company’s CEO Zhang Hui announced the launch of ZAN during a conference in Shanghai, presenting a suite of blockchain application development tools tailored for both institutional and individual web3 developers.
ZAN from Ant Group to Offer a Slew of Services to Customers
The release outlined a comprehensive range of technical products and services that ZAN will offer its clients. To begin, the blockchain platform will introduce a solution geared toward assisting Web3 companies in issuing and managing real-world assets (RWAs) while ensuring compliance with local regulatory standards.
ZAN’s primary focus will be assisting institutions in efficiently managing assets while adhering to local regulatory standards. Additionally, the blockchain platform offers essential services such as electronic know-your-customer (eKYC), anti-money laundering (AML), and know-your-transactions (KYT) offerings to bolster security measures. These services are crucial in today’s digital landscape, where security and compliance are paramount.
In addition to these offerings, the platform is set to provide Smart Contract Reviews (SCR) and Node Services, including Remote Procedure Calls (RPC), designed to facilitate the development of decentralized applications (dApps).
CEO Hui emphasized the company’s commitment to advancing Web3 technology, stating that ZAN is dedicated to investing in research and development of Web3 technologies and products, providing more extensive and reliable technical services to support the community. He also believes the Web3 ecosystem will bring new opportunities as it fosters innovation.
“Web3 is a technology sector bringing new opportunities as it cultivates more and more innovations. At Ant Group Digital Technologies, we have seen trends and also efficiency and security-related bottlenecks during the application development process,” Hui said.
Furthermore, the company said that ZAN is powered by technical innovations from AntChain Open Labs. During the 2023 INCLUSION. The conference, AntChain Open Labs also introduced TrustBase, an open-source initiative featuring cutting-edge cryptography technologies such as multi-party computing (MPC), zero-knowledge proof (ZKP), and full homomorphic encryption (FHE). These innovations underscore Ant Group’s holistic approach to driving progress within the blockchain industry.
HashKey Group and Other Industry Leaders Adopt ZAN
Despite China’s blanket ban on crypto in 2021, Ant Group remains firmly committed to blockchain technology. The company started the testing of ZAN’s technical services earlier this year. In April 2023, at the Hong Kong Web3 Festival, HashKey DID, a decentralized identity data aggregator in the Web3 sector, publicly announced its decision to integrate ZAN’s eKYC solution. This integration enables users to access HashKey DID’s compliant Web3 service platform seamlessly.
“ZAN eKYC product has received good feedback from us and our customers after deployment. It is convenient and safe to complete the user login, authentication, and management process. We expect ZAN to make great contributions to the mass adoption of Web3,” said Chao Deng, CEO of HashKey Group Singapore.
In addition to HashKey Group, ZAN has secured partnerships with other industry leaders, including Morpheus Labs and Everest Ventures Group, affirming its potential to reshape the global blockchain landscape.