Ant Group, the Chinese fintech giant behind Alipay, has launched Jovay, a new Ethereum Layer-2 (L2) network designed to bring real-world assets (RWAs) to the blockchain at institutional scale. The platform aims to handle up to 100,000 transactions per second (TPS), a major leap from current Ethereum L2 standards.
Announced on Oct. 14, Jovay was developed by Ant Digital, the blockchain division of Ant Group, and is being positioned as a high-performance, compliance-first scaling solution for enterprise use. Unlike most blockchain platforms, Jovay is launching without a native token, highlighting a focus on regulatory clarity and enterprise adoption over retail speculation.
High-Speed Blockchain Aimed at Global Finance
During testnet trials, Jovay reached transaction speeds between 15,700 and 22,000 TPS, with plans to scale to 100,000 TPS through node clustering and horizontal scaling. For comparison, Base—currently one of Ethereum’s fastest-growing L2s—processes around 93 TPS, according to L2Beat.
Ant Group sees this speed as critical for modernizing financial infrastructure and settling large volumes of real-world transactions across global markets.
Bringing Alipay-Scale Adoption to Ethereum
With over 1.4 billion users, Alipay is one of the world’s largest financial platforms. If Jovay successfully channels even a fraction of that activity onto Ethereum’s infrastructure, it could mark one of the most significant milestones in blockchain adoption to date.
The goal is to use blockchain to streamline processes like cross-border payments, asset issuance, and corporate settlements—all while remaining compliant with local regulations.
A Compliance-Focused Approach to Real-World Assets
Jovay introduces a five-step pipeline—registration, structuring, tokenization, issuance, and trading—for real-world assets. Each stage includes data verification and off-chain attestations, providing transparency and control for both regulators and financial institutions.
This could enable use cases like instant settlement of tokenized bonds between banks and DeFi platforms, without breaching data privacy or jurisdictional rules.
Ethereum’s Growing Role in Institutional Finance
By choosing to build Jovay on Ethereum instead of a private blockchain, Ant Group is signaling growing institutional trust in public blockchains. This aligns with a broader trend, as governments and major institutions begin experimenting with Ethereum-based systems for finance.
Ant’s decision also highlights the cost efficiency of public infrastructure. Operating on Ethereum allows Jovay to avoid high validator costs associated with standalone chains, while gaining access to Ethereum’s $100B+ DeFi ecosystem.
A Turning Point for Ethereum and Finance
Industry experts suggest that Jovay could mark a turning point in the convergence of traditional finance and public blockchain infrastructure.
“This isn’t another startup experiment,” said Abbas Khan, Founders Success Manager at the Ethereum Foundation. “It’s a signal that the next phase of global finance is being built on Ethereum rails.”
As tokenized assets—from government bonds to corporate securities—move on-chain, Ethereum could become the default settlement layer for the next generation of financial infrastructure.
Rather than being driven by speculative hype, Ethereum’s future growth may come from institutions quietly migrating real-world assets to regulated, scalable platforms like Jovay.
Featured image from: cryptoslate.com