On September 1, 2025, Yunfeng Financial Group announced a strategic cooperation agreement with Ant Group and made a strategic investment in the Pharos public blockchain. On September 2, Yunfeng Financial issued a notice: the company's board of directors has approved the purchase of ETH in the open market as reserve assets. As of the announcement date, the Group has cumulatively purchased 10,000 ETH in the open market, with a total investment cost (including fees and expenses) of 44 million USD.
Yunfeng Financial has been intensively releasing announcements in the past two days, attracting the attention of industry insiders. What is the background of Yunfeng Financial? What achievements has Ant Group, owned by Jack Ma, made in the past two years? Is the Pharos public blockchain worth paying attention to? What are the far-reaching implications of the cooperation between the two giants...
The cryptocurrency layout of Yunfeng Financial
In 2010, Jack Ma and Yu Feng, the founder of JuZhong Media, established Yunfeng Fund. The following year, it was renamed Yunfeng Financial. The name "Yunfeng" is derived from the names of the two founders. Jack Ma indirectly holds approximately 11.15% of the shares in Yunfeng Financial through Yunfeng Fund.
According to the official website of Yunfeng Financial, Yunfeng Financial is listed on the main board in Hong Kong and has segments in securities brokerage, asset management, insurance business, and financial technology. Subsidiaries of Yunfeng Financial Group hold the Financial Services Licenses No. 1, 4, and 9 granted by the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission. Additionally, the group holds a long-term insurance business license from the Hong Kong Insurance Authority and is an approved trustee for the Mandatory Provident Fund through its subsidiary, Wan Tong Insurance International Limited.
Yunfeng Financial's purchase of ETH and its use as a reserve asset is actually a continuation of the financial strategy disclosed in July, when the board expressed a strong interest in Web3 technology, RWA tokenization, digital currencies, ESG net-zero assets, and artificial intelligence. The board reiterated that buying ETH helps the company achieve its long-term goal of integrating finance and technology. "ETH is accounted for as an investment in the group's financial statements." Yunfeng Financial also pointed out that holding ETH will help diversify assets and reduce reliance on traditional fiat currencies. In the future, they also plan to explore the potential applications of Ethereum in insurance business and new scenarios in decentralized finance.
Driven by expectations of interest rate cuts from the Federal Reserve and interest from institutional investors, the price of Ethereum has surged significantly in recent weeks. Undoubtedly, in the current wave of crypto treasury, Yunfeng Financial has also recognized the future development potential of Ethereum. Incorporating ETH into its financial framework can enhance financial autonomy and innovation capabilities, and improve customer experience; it can also lock in future value by increasing ETH holdings, allowing participation in the promising future of the crypto market. Moving forward, Yunfeng Financial will continue to monitor market trends and regulatory frameworks for digital assets to assess whether to increase its ETH reserves.
Additionally, Yunfeng Financial announced the cooperation with Ant Group's digital technology and the investment in public chains the day before yesterday, which is not surprising. As early as July 14 of this year, Yunfeng Financial had already published an announcement mentioning its intention to venture into the Web3 field. The announcement stated: Based on the existing insurance and fintech businesses, it will strategically layout in frontiers such as Web 3.0, Real World Assets (RWA), digital currencies, ESG zero-carbon assets, and artificial intelligence (AI), as well as explore innovative applications connecting these frontiers with the group's insurance company's various application scenarios. The group will further increase its investment in digital currencies (such as stablecoins), Real World Assets (RWA), and artificial intelligence AI related to digital technology based on the organic combination of finance and technology established on the cloud services and virtual banking domains with the group's strategic partners. It will also actively explore the ESG zero-carbon asset field in the Greater Bay Area. The group will continue to actively participate in and lead technological changes, enhancing long-term shareholder value and returns.
Yunfeng Financial's entry into the Web3 field is a well-considered strategic decision. In the current rapid development of financial technology, areas such as Web3 and digital currencies show great development potential. Yunfeng Financial aims to lay out in advance to seize the high ground of future financial technology development.
What achievements has Ant Group's digital technology achieved in the past two years?
Ant Group's Ant Technology is an independent technology subsidiary under Ant Group, which has been operating independently since 2024. Its core business is to provide digital upgrade solutions for industries using technologies such as artificial intelligence, blockchain, and cloud computing.
In the past two years, Ant Group has achieved remarkable results in the blockchain field.
March 2024: Ant Group begins independent operations and completes a capital increase of 2 billion yuan.
May 2024: The Hong Kong Monetary Authority launched the Ensemble sandbox, with Ant Group becoming one of the initial members. This project supports the HKMA's tokenization and central bank digital currency (CBDC) initiatives, and explores tokenization use cases.
August 2024: Under the guidance of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, Ant Group helped the mainland new energy listed company Langxin successfully complete a 100 million yuan RWA cross-border financing, with the underlying assets being charging piles. This is the first new energy RWA project in the country and has been selected as a representative case in the Hong Kong Monetary Authority's Ensemble sandbox.
March 2025: The "Trusted Blockchain Entity Asset Trusted On-chain Technology Specifications" jointly initiated by the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology and Ant Group officially commenced and started the writing process, signaling that the standardization process of Real World Assets (RWA) has entered a new phase.
April 2025: Ant Group's Digital Technology Open Source Virtual Machine DTVM, seamlessly compatible with the Ethereum ecosystem.
June 2025: Ant Group initiates application for Hong Kong stablecoin license.
July 2025: Ant Group's Layer 2 blockchain Jovay testnet officially launched, serving as a blockchain platform tailored for institutional-grade application scenarios, aimed at supporting various application scenarios including RWA.
August 2025: Ant Group and Guotai Junan International cooperate to complete the first batch of structured product tokens "Ant Chain - Ethereum" cross-chain issuance.
September 2025: Ant Group and Yunfeng Financial reached a strategic cooperation agreement, and both parties will leverage the Pharos public chain platform to jointly and compliantly expand into cutting-edge fields such as the tokenization of real-world assets (RWA) and Web3.
As mentioned above, Yunfeng Financial has extensive experience in securities, asset management, insurance, and financial technology, while Ant Group's digital technology has been deeply engaged in blockchain technology and digital assets in the past two years. The cooperation between the two parties is a strong alliance and a classic case of the integration of traditional finance and emerging finance, complementing each other's strengths.
Is the Pharos public chain worth paying attention to?
Pharos public chain was established in July 2024, founded by key members of the former Ant Group blockchain business. The founder and CEO Alex Zhang previously served as the CTO of Ant Blockchain Business Group and the CEO of Ant Chain's Web3 brand ZAN; CTO Wish Longer previously served as the CSO of Ant Chain.
Pharos is an EVM-compatible Layer 1 network designed to bridge Web 2 and Web3 assets and liquidity. Pharos focuses on institutional-level RWA application scenarios and enterprise-level decentralized finance needs, committed to solving the pain points of traditional institutions entering Web3 by building leading modular infrastructure, creating an efficient and low-cost payment network, and promoting the large-scale deployment of decentralized applications and the expansion of tokenized asset scenarios. It will bridge over $50 trillion of RWA, TradFi, and cross-chain capital into a modular on-chain economy of internet scale. It supports real-time, real-world applications through a deeply parallel layer architecture.
In May of this year, Pharos announced the official launch of its public testnet.
In June, the RWA protocol Spout announced its launch on the Pharos testnet.
In August, Pharos partnered with the decentralized Web3 wallet Bitverse to plan the establishment of a perpetual contract decentralized trading platform (PerpDEX) on the Pharos network.
In September, Yunfeng Financial announced that it will collaborate with Ant Group to jointly layout RWA tokenization and the Web3 field through the Pharos high-performance public chain platform.
Pharos has precisely captured the hottest track in the current industry. As the popularity of RWA continues to rise, both traditional financial institutions and crypto financial institutions have an urgent need for on-chain asset platforms. The Pharos public chain, with its EVM compatibility, can seamlessly connect with mature development tools and applications in the Ethereum ecosystem, reducing the migration costs for developers; at the same time, it focuses on institutional-level demands. As the investment cooperation between the two giants, Ant Group and Yunfeng Financial, unfolds, its technological iteration and ecological expansion prospects may continue to advance and become the infrastructure connecting crypto finance and traditional finance, expanding the influence of RWA in traditional finance.
IV. The Significance of Cooperation Between Two Giants
The collaboration between Yunfeng Financial and Ant Group's Digital Technology is the result of the collision between traditional finance and digital finance, which not only benefits the development of their respective businesses but also has significant implications for the entire Web3 industry and the RWA sector.
For Yunfeng Financial, this can directly help it expand its business in the Web3 and cryptocurrency sectors. Yunfeng Financial pointed out in the announcement: "The cooperation with Ant Group's digital technology will not only strengthen our group's layout in the digital finance field but also help Ant Group deepen the application of blockchain technology. The synergy between both parties will create new growth space for each other." By leveraging Ant Group's blockchain technology and ecological resources, Yunfeng Financial is directly heading towards the fast track of developing blockchain technology and crypto finance. Through the Pharos public blockchain, Yunfeng Financial can quickly realize the integration of traditional finance and on-chain finance, providing users with a richer variety of financial products and even attracting more institutional investors looking to enter the RWA field.
For Ant Group, Yunfeng Financial has been deeply engaged in the traditional financial sector for many years. The financial licenses No. 1, 4, and 9 it has obtained can help Ant Group gain more advantages in compliance operations. In addition, Yunfeng Financial's customer channels and capital reserves can also help Ant Group alleviate concerns about deploying after investing in the Pharos public chain. Through the Pharos public chain, Ant Group can further expand its influence in the field of blockchain technology, make deep advancements in L1, and even integrate its own technical standards and ecological construction into it.
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Buy ETH, invest in public chains, Ant Group, stablecoin understand Jack Ma's Web3 layout
Written by: Deng Tong, Golden Finance
On September 1, 2025, Yunfeng Financial Group announced a strategic cooperation agreement with Ant Group and made a strategic investment in the Pharos public blockchain. On September 2, Yunfeng Financial issued a notice: the company's board of directors has approved the purchase of ETH in the open market as reserve assets. As of the announcement date, the Group has cumulatively purchased 10,000 ETH in the open market, with a total investment cost (including fees and expenses) of 44 million USD.
Yunfeng Financial has been intensively releasing announcements in the past two days, attracting the attention of industry insiders. What is the background of Yunfeng Financial? What achievements has Ant Group, owned by Jack Ma, made in the past two years? Is the Pharos public blockchain worth paying attention to? What are the far-reaching implications of the cooperation between the two giants...
In 2010, Jack Ma and Yu Feng, the founder of JuZhong Media, established Yunfeng Fund. The following year, it was renamed Yunfeng Financial. The name "Yunfeng" is derived from the names of the two founders. Jack Ma indirectly holds approximately 11.15% of the shares in Yunfeng Financial through Yunfeng Fund.
According to the official website of Yunfeng Financial, Yunfeng Financial is listed on the main board in Hong Kong and has segments in securities brokerage, asset management, insurance business, and financial technology. Subsidiaries of Yunfeng Financial Group hold the Financial Services Licenses No. 1, 4, and 9 granted by the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission. Additionally, the group holds a long-term insurance business license from the Hong Kong Insurance Authority and is an approved trustee for the Mandatory Provident Fund through its subsidiary, Wan Tong Insurance International Limited.
Yunfeng Financial's purchase of ETH and its use as a reserve asset is actually a continuation of the financial strategy disclosed in July, when the board expressed a strong interest in Web3 technology, RWA tokenization, digital currencies, ESG net-zero assets, and artificial intelligence. The board reiterated that buying ETH helps the company achieve its long-term goal of integrating finance and technology. "ETH is accounted for as an investment in the group's financial statements." Yunfeng Financial also pointed out that holding ETH will help diversify assets and reduce reliance on traditional fiat currencies. In the future, they also plan to explore the potential applications of Ethereum in insurance business and new scenarios in decentralized finance.
Driven by expectations of interest rate cuts from the Federal Reserve and interest from institutional investors, the price of Ethereum has surged significantly in recent weeks. Undoubtedly, in the current wave of crypto treasury, Yunfeng Financial has also recognized the future development potential of Ethereum. Incorporating ETH into its financial framework can enhance financial autonomy and innovation capabilities, and improve customer experience; it can also lock in future value by increasing ETH holdings, allowing participation in the promising future of the crypto market. Moving forward, Yunfeng Financial will continue to monitor market trends and regulatory frameworks for digital assets to assess whether to increase its ETH reserves.
Additionally, Yunfeng Financial announced the cooperation with Ant Group's digital technology and the investment in public chains the day before yesterday, which is not surprising. As early as July 14 of this year, Yunfeng Financial had already published an announcement mentioning its intention to venture into the Web3 field. The announcement stated: Based on the existing insurance and fintech businesses, it will strategically layout in frontiers such as Web 3.0, Real World Assets (RWA), digital currencies, ESG zero-carbon assets, and artificial intelligence (AI), as well as explore innovative applications connecting these frontiers with the group's insurance company's various application scenarios. The group will further increase its investment in digital currencies (such as stablecoins), Real World Assets (RWA), and artificial intelligence AI related to digital technology based on the organic combination of finance and technology established on the cloud services and virtual banking domains with the group's strategic partners. It will also actively explore the ESG zero-carbon asset field in the Greater Bay Area. The group will continue to actively participate in and lead technological changes, enhancing long-term shareholder value and returns.
Yunfeng Financial's entry into the Web3 field is a well-considered strategic decision. In the current rapid development of financial technology, areas such as Web3 and digital currencies show great development potential. Yunfeng Financial aims to lay out in advance to seize the high ground of future financial technology development.
Ant Group's Ant Technology is an independent technology subsidiary under Ant Group, which has been operating independently since 2024. Its core business is to provide digital upgrade solutions for industries using technologies such as artificial intelligence, blockchain, and cloud computing.
In the past two years, Ant Group has achieved remarkable results in the blockchain field.
March 2024: Ant Group begins independent operations and completes a capital increase of 2 billion yuan.
May 2024: The Hong Kong Monetary Authority launched the Ensemble sandbox, with Ant Group becoming one of the initial members. This project supports the HKMA's tokenization and central bank digital currency (CBDC) initiatives, and explores tokenization use cases.
August 2024: Under the guidance of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, Ant Group helped the mainland new energy listed company Langxin successfully complete a 100 million yuan RWA cross-border financing, with the underlying assets being charging piles. This is the first new energy RWA project in the country and has been selected as a representative case in the Hong Kong Monetary Authority's Ensemble sandbox.
March 2025: The "Trusted Blockchain Entity Asset Trusted On-chain Technology Specifications" jointly initiated by the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology and Ant Group officially commenced and started the writing process, signaling that the standardization process of Real World Assets (RWA) has entered a new phase.
April 2025: Ant Group's Digital Technology Open Source Virtual Machine DTVM, seamlessly compatible with the Ethereum ecosystem.
June 2025: Ant Group initiates application for Hong Kong stablecoin license.
July 2025: Ant Group's Layer 2 blockchain Jovay testnet officially launched, serving as a blockchain platform tailored for institutional-grade application scenarios, aimed at supporting various application scenarios including RWA.
August 2025: Ant Group and Guotai Junan International cooperate to complete the first batch of structured product tokens "Ant Chain - Ethereum" cross-chain issuance.
September 2025: Ant Group and Yunfeng Financial reached a strategic cooperation agreement, and both parties will leverage the Pharos public chain platform to jointly and compliantly expand into cutting-edge fields such as the tokenization of real-world assets (RWA) and Web3.
As mentioned above, Yunfeng Financial has extensive experience in securities, asset management, insurance, and financial technology, while Ant Group's digital technology has been deeply engaged in blockchain technology and digital assets in the past two years. The cooperation between the two parties is a strong alliance and a classic case of the integration of traditional finance and emerging finance, complementing each other's strengths.
Pharos public chain was established in July 2024, founded by key members of the former Ant Group blockchain business. The founder and CEO Alex Zhang previously served as the CTO of Ant Blockchain Business Group and the CEO of Ant Chain's Web3 brand ZAN; CTO Wish Longer previously served as the CSO of Ant Chain.
Pharos is an EVM-compatible Layer 1 network designed to bridge Web 2 and Web3 assets and liquidity. Pharos focuses on institutional-level RWA application scenarios and enterprise-level decentralized finance needs, committed to solving the pain points of traditional institutions entering Web3 by building leading modular infrastructure, creating an efficient and low-cost payment network, and promoting the large-scale deployment of decentralized applications and the expansion of tokenized asset scenarios. It will bridge over $50 trillion of RWA, TradFi, and cross-chain capital into a modular on-chain economy of internet scale. It supports real-time, real-world applications through a deeply parallel layer architecture.
In May of this year, Pharos announced the official launch of its public testnet.
In June, the RWA protocol Spout announced its launch on the Pharos testnet.
In August, Pharos partnered with the decentralized Web3 wallet Bitverse to plan the establishment of a perpetual contract decentralized trading platform (PerpDEX) on the Pharos network.
In September, Yunfeng Financial announced that it will collaborate with Ant Group to jointly layout RWA tokenization and the Web3 field through the Pharos high-performance public chain platform.
Pharos has precisely captured the hottest track in the current industry. As the popularity of RWA continues to rise, both traditional financial institutions and crypto financial institutions have an urgent need for on-chain asset platforms. The Pharos public chain, with its EVM compatibility, can seamlessly connect with mature development tools and applications in the Ethereum ecosystem, reducing the migration costs for developers; at the same time, it focuses on institutional-level demands. As the investment cooperation between the two giants, Ant Group and Yunfeng Financial, unfolds, its technological iteration and ecological expansion prospects may continue to advance and become the infrastructure connecting crypto finance and traditional finance, expanding the influence of RWA in traditional finance.
IV. The Significance of Cooperation Between Two Giants
The collaboration between Yunfeng Financial and Ant Group's Digital Technology is the result of the collision between traditional finance and digital finance, which not only benefits the development of their respective businesses but also has significant implications for the entire Web3 industry and the RWA sector.
For Yunfeng Financial, this can directly help it expand its business in the Web3 and cryptocurrency sectors. Yunfeng Financial pointed out in the announcement: "The cooperation with Ant Group's digital technology will not only strengthen our group's layout in the digital finance field but also help Ant Group deepen the application of blockchain technology. The synergy between both parties will create new growth space for each other." By leveraging Ant Group's blockchain technology and ecological resources, Yunfeng Financial is directly heading towards the fast track of developing blockchain technology and crypto finance. Through the Pharos public blockchain, Yunfeng Financial can quickly realize the integration of traditional finance and on-chain finance, providing users with a richer variety of financial products and even attracting more institutional investors looking to enter the RWA field.
For Ant Group, Yunfeng Financial has been deeply engaged in the traditional financial sector for many years. The financial licenses No. 1, 4, and 9 it has obtained can help Ant Group gain more advantages in compliance operations. In addition, Yunfeng Financial's customer channels and capital reserves can also help Ant Group alleviate concerns about deploying after investing in the Pharos public chain. Through the Pharos public chain, Ant Group can further expand its influence in the field of blockchain technology, make deep advancements in L1, and even integrate its own technical standards and ecological construction into it.