HSBC and Ant Digital Technologies have tested a system that allows AI agents to find digital services and make micropayments using HSBC’s tokenized bank deposits. The transactions settled in real time on a blockchain testnet and included automated risk checks.
The trial combined HSBC’s Tokenised Deposit Service, Ant Digital’s Anvita Flow network and the Jovay Testnet, a layer-2 blockchain testing environment. Ant Digital’s network coordinated service discovery and payments, while HSBC handled settlement and risk checks.
In the demonstration, an AI agent selected a digital service and completed a payment. The companies described the transactions as micropayments, generally payments of less than $2.
The test was limited to technical verification and was not a commercial launch or live customer offering. Its design linked automated service access with tokenized deposits and real-time settlement in a single trial.
The experiment follows controlled AI-payment tests by other banks. Santander completed an agent-initiated payment through Mastercard’s Agent Pay infrastructure in March, Sygnum tested blockchain-based agent transactions in May with customer approval and signatures, and CaixaBank completed an agent-initiated card transaction through Visa Intelligent Commerce and existing merchant systems.