HSBC and Ant Digital Complete AI-Agent Payment Test Using Tokenized Deposits
Published October 10, 2026, 04:55 PKT. Details from the October 9, 2026 joint announcement by Ant Digital Technologies, carried by PR Newswire; bank-payment context from Cointelegraph's reporting.
HSBC and Ant Digital Technologies have successfully completed a technical verification test showing that an AI agent can act on a user's behalf to find a digital service, pay for it with a tokenized bank deposit, and settle the transaction in real time, the companies announced on October 9. The test combined HSBC's Tokenised Deposit Service with Ant Digital's Anvita Flow network and its Jovay Testnet blockchain environment into one automated flow, with micropayments defined in the announcement as transactions of less than $2.00.
How the test flow worked
In the test, an AI agent discovered and invoked a digital service, made the micropayment and completed the transaction with real-time settlement, according to the announcement. HSBC supplied its Tokenised Deposit Service and related settlement capabilities, including real-time risk checks through its MCP interface. Ant Digital's Anvita Flow provided the infrastructure that let AI agents discover and invoke services and manage micropayment settlement, while the Jovay Testnet served as the underlying Layer 2 test environment for the blockchain transactions. Together, the companies said, the technologies demonstrated a potential end-to-end model for AI agent micropayment transactions using tokenized deposits.
Exploration, not a launch
The companies were explicit that the test was carried out solely as an exploration of the technology and does not represent a commercial launch or a live customer proposition. Its significance, the announcement said, lies in demonstrating how autonomous AI systems could potentially participate in leveraging tokenized deposits to enhance the use of micropayments. Zhuoqun Bian, President of Blockchain Business at Ant Digital Technologies, said the test demonstrates the potential use of on-chain AI agents, adding that the company would keep exploring how autonomous agents can create tangible value in commercial environments. Lewis Sun, HSBC's Global Head of Digital Currencies, said the bank was exploring how innovation, new use cases and collaboration could reduce friction for clients while keeping the focus on appropriate controls and responsible development.
The growing AI-agent payments race
HSBC is one of several banks testing how AI agents can initiate financial transactions on behalf of customers, Cointelegraph reported. In March, Santander completed an AI-agent-initiated payment using Mastercard's Agent Pay infrastructure in a controlled test involving the bank's live payment systems. In May, Swiss digital asset bank Sygnum tested AI-agent-driven transactions on a blockchain mainnet, with customers required to approve and sign each transaction, while Spanish banking group CaixaBank completed an AI-agent-initiated card transaction using Visa Intelligent Commerce and existing merchant payment systems. Not everyone is convinced established banks can adapt: in a May interview with Cointelegraph, Augustus Bank CEO Ferdinand Dabitz argued that traditional clearing banks rely on decades-old systems built for human operations rather than automated, around-the-clock transactions.
This article is news reporting and is not investment advice.
Sources
- Ant Digital Technologies announcement, carried by PR Newswire, Ant Digital Technologies and HSBC Announce Successful AI Agent Micropayment Technical Verification Test (Oct. 9, 2026), primary source
- Cointelegraph via TradingView, HSBC, Ant Digital test AI-agent payments using tokenized deposits (Oct. 9, 2026), secondary source
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