Ant Group, the owner of the world’s largest mobile payment platform, Alipay, revealed its new sub-brand under the name ZAN. The brand will focus on blockchain development and services for both institutional and individual Web3 developers. 

The official press release, published on Sept. 8, cites a broad scope of technical products and services that ZAN will offer its clients. It starts with a solution to help Web3 companies issue and manage real-world assets (RWAs) in compliance with local regulatory requirements. It also covers a series of technical products, including electronic Know Your Customer (KYC), Anti-Money Laundering and Know Your Transaction checks for Web3.

ZAN will also provide smart contract reviews and node services, including remote procedure calls for building decentralized applications (DApps).

In April, during the Hong Kong Web3 Festival, a Web3 decentralized identity data aggregator, HashKey DID, announced its adoption of ZAN electronic KYC. HashKey Group participated in ZAN’s brand launch ceremony as one of its first partners.

In July, Bloomberg reported that Ant Group is looking to exclude its blockchain branch from its main entity, which will apply for a financial holding license in China. 

In 2020, Ant Group aimed for a $226 billion valuation with a $30 billion initial public offering (IPO) in Hong Kong and Shanghai. If it succeeded, the IPO would have been the biggest ever, beating records like the $29.4 billion raised by the Saudi Aramco IPO. However, the IPO was blocked by the Chinese government.