Ant Digital Technologies and HSBC say they have run a test in which an AI agent found a digital service, paid a very small amount for it and had the payment settled in real time using tokenised bank deposits. The announcement was made in Hong Kong on 9 October 2026. The companies describe it as a technical test only, not a product.
What was announced
Company-reported. The release says: “Ant Digital Technologies and HSBC have successfully completed a technical verification test” [1]. It used three things: HSBC’s Tokenised Deposit Service (TDS), Ant Digital’s Anvita Flow network and its Jovay Testnet. The release calls Jovay Testnet “the underlying Layer 2 test environment” for the blockchain transactions [1].
In the test, an AI agent could “discover and use a digital service, make a micropayment (often defined as less than $2.00) and complete the transaction with real-time settlement” [1]. HSBC provided TDS and settlement, “including real-time risk checks through its MCP interface” [1]. Anvita Flow, per the release, supplied the infrastructure for agents to find and call services and manage the micropayment settlement [1].
The terms, in plain English
A tokenised deposit is an ordinary bank deposit represented on a blockchain or similar shared ledger. It is still money held at a bank, not a separate cryptocurrency, as TSN explained in its report on interbank tokenised deposits.
A micropayment is a very small payment. The release says “often defined as less than $2.00”.
MCP usually stands for Model Context Protocol, a common way for AI agents to call outside tools and services. The release does not spell it out, so that is TSN’s reading. In the release it is the interface through which HSBC ran its real-time risk checks.
A testnet is a practice version of a blockchain network, used to try out systems before anything goes live. The release does not say whether real funds moved.
What the companies said
Lewis Sun, HSBC’s Global Head of Digital Currencies, said: “Through our Tokenised Deposit Service, we’re exploring how continued innovation, new use cases and collaboration could help enhance the customer experience and reduce friction for our clients while remaining focused on client needs, appropriate controls and responsible development” [1]. Zhuoqun Bian of Ant Digital Technologies said the test “demonstrates the potential use of on-chain AI agents” [1].
The caveat
The release states the test “was carried out solely as an exploration of the technology and does not represent a commercial launch or live customer proposition” [1]. Cointelegraph reports the same, that the test was limited to technical verification [2]. TSN’s earlier OCBC and Ant International post covered a different tokenised-deposit project, with a different Ant company.
What is not disclosed
The release gives no number of transactions, no payment values, no named AI agent or service, no word on whether real funds were used, and no plan to launch anything.
The Bottom Line
This is a company-reported technical test on a test network, with HSBC’s tokenised deposits as the settlement asset. It shows what the two companies say a connected flow could look like. It is not a product, and the companies say so themselves.
Related on TSN: OCBC–Ant: tokenised deposits for 24/7 SGD and USD treasury · Tokenised Deposits Go Interbank: Canada, The Clearing House and Swift
Sources
- Ant Digital Technologies, “Ant Digital Technologies and HSBC Announce Successful AI Agent Micropayment Technical Verification Test”, PR Newswire, Hong Kong, 9 October 2026 (company press release, primary source). https://www.prnewswire.com/apac/news-releases/ant-digital-technologies-and-hsbc-announce-successful-ai-agent-micropayment-technical-verification-test-302903333.html
- Nate Kostar, “HSBC, Ant Digital test AI-agent payments using tokenized deposits”, Cointelegraph, 9 October 2026. https://cointelegraph.com/news/hsbc-ant-digital-test-ai-agent-payments-using-tokenized-deposits
