Earlier this week, the Chinese fintech giant behind Alipay’s 1.4 billion-user payment network launched a new Layer-2 blockchain, built on the Ethereum network. The implication is massive: Ethereum is set to onboard 1.4 billion new users, or over 17% of the world’s population.
As a representative of the Ethereum Foundation stated:
“This isn’t another startup experiment. It’s a signal that the next phase of global finance is being built on Ethereum rails…In China, Alipay isn’t an app; it’s an infrastructure layer for daily life, payments, loans, insurance, identity, mobility, and more. And now, Ant Group is taking that infrastructure onchain.”
Ant Group is the parent company of Alipay. Ant Group’s blockchain divison, Ant Digital, launched this new blockchain, Jovay, to move real-world assets (RWAs) on-chain at institutional scale.
The group is betting that the next leap in digital finance will not happen in a bank but on Ethereum.
Real World Assets driving Ethereum’s growth
RWAs have quietly become Ethereum’s fastest-growing segment; tokenized treasuries, invoices, and funds on Ethereum now exceed $12 billion in value, up more than 300% since early 2024. By integrating AntChain’s enterprise registry with Ethereum, Jovay could enable bilateral settlements between licensed institutions and on-chain liquidity providers.
For instance, a bank issuing a digital bond on Jovay could settle instantly with a DeFi counterparty without exposing internal data or violating jurisdictional controls. To those not familiar with blockchain technology, this may sound like alien speech, but the simplistic message is this: Traditional finance is rapidiy moving onto the blockchain and Ethereum (ETH) is set to become one of the greatest benefactors of this revolution.
Stockpiling ETH: “The biggest macro trade for the next 10 to 15 years”
A number of companies and investors are front-running this revolution. The world’s largest ETH digital asset treasury, BitMine, has just bought the recent ETH dip as it has retreated from its August all-time high. Tom Lee-chaired BitMine Immersion Technologies reportedly scooped up another 104,336 ETH worth around $417 million today.
Some 70 corporations and organizations – mostly US-based – are quietly leading what some analysts are calling one of the most consequential shifts in corporate finance. These entities have been stockpiling ETH and together hold close to 10% of ETH’s circulating supply.
Apart from its appeal and onboarding potential as traditional finance moves onchain, Ethereum also forms the backbone of the rapidly growing decentralized finance ecosystem with utility for lending, borrowing, and payments without traditional banks.
BitMine’s Tom Lee is calling ETH the biggest macro trade “for the next 10 to 15 years as Wall Street financializes on the blockchain.”