Watton Financial (NASDAQ:WTF) is a rapidly emerging fintech and AI infrastructure company that began its journey as a traditional securities firm before undergoing one of the most significant strategic evolutions in the global financial services landscape. Founded with a core focus on brokerage operations, custodianship, and cross-border market access, the company built its early reputation by providing licensed financial institutions with compliant, high-availability access to Hong Kong markets, U.S. equities, and Asia-based assets through its broker-cloud ecosystem. These foundational capabilities allowed Watton to gain deep operational experience in securities settlement, regulatory reporting, client asset protection, and multi-jurisdictional compliance—skills that later became instrumental as the company prepared to leverage artificial intelligence as the next frontier of financial technology.
The company’s pivotal transformation began in 2023 when its leadership shifted its strategic direction from traditional fintech to full AI integration. This shift marked the beginning of Watton’s journey into becoming an AI-driven organization that aims to reshape brokerage infrastructure, wealth management tooling, and digital asset interactions. Under the guidance of Chairman Tony Joe, the firm embraced a long-term vision of becoming what he describes as an AI agents holding company—an organization built not just to utilize artificial intelligence, but to host, manage, and deploy AI agents capable of performing real-world financial tasks with regulatory oversight and audited transparency. The move represented a decisive break from the conventional brokerage model and aligned Watton with a new generation of financial technology that merges automated decision-making, machine learning, and AI-enhanced trading logic.
Watton’s background is further rooted in its strong regulatory footprint, most notably its series of licenses under the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission (SFC). These include permissions for securities dealing, custodianship, advisory services, options-related guidance, and asset management—all of which provide the company with a robust legal foundation for offering both B2C and B2B financial services. The company also expanded through a Type 1 license uplift that enables certain crypto-related activities, and its leadership has confirmed that the firm is preparing for additional licenses to deepen its services in futures and commodities. This extensive licensing background is a key differentiator that sets Watton apart from unregulated AI-driven platforms and positions it as one of the few firms capable of safely integrating AI into regulated financial processes.
In addition to its compliance infrastructure, Watton has a long-standing history of serving licensed brokers across the Asia-Pacific region through its broker-cloud software, which provides global market access, order routing, back-office operations, and settlement support. Clients from Singapore, New Zealand, Australia, and mid-Asia rely on Watton’s systems to provide their retail investors with access to Hong Kong’s financial markets, Chinese A-shares, and the U.S. stock market. This foundational business line demonstrates that, long before its pivot toward AI-driven innovation, Watton had already established itself as a trusted infrastructure provider capable of powering financial institutions at scale.
Watton’s evolution accelerated as the company recognized that artificial intelligence would fundamentally alter global investing behavior. Its leadership saw the potential of AI models that could analyze real-time markets, run autonomous strategies, communicate logic to users, and even collaborate with or compete against other AI agents—capabilities already demonstrated in early initiatives such as AI Arena. As a result, the company spent much of 2025 in a deliberate preparation and research year, strengthening its engineering teams, expanding compliance capacity, enhancing cybersecurity protocols, and developing proprietary AI architecture that would integrate seamlessly with regulated market infrastructure. During this period, the company innovated technologies such as the blockchain-based “data pearl,” a secure digital token designed to allow users to govern and maintain ownership of their AI agents, ensuring traceability, control, and identity protection in an AI-driven financial ecosystem.
Today, Watton Financial stands as a company defined by its transformation from a traditional brokerage service provider into a next-generation AI-enabled financial platform with a global outlook. With deep regulatory credentials, an established B2B broker-cloud network, product development rooted in compliance culture, and a leadership team that openly embraces the convergence of AI, brokerage technology, and blockchain authentication, Watton is positioned to become one of the most influential players in the shift toward AI-native investing. Its background demonstrates not only technical and regulatory expertise, but also the agility and foresight required to lead the next major evolution in global fintech.
Watton Financial’s AI Breakthrough: How WTF Is Building the First True Brokerage for AI Natives
Watton Financial entered the public markets on April 1, 2025 at four dollars a share and closed its offering the following day. But the company’s real story is not the IPO—it is the radical transformation now underway. In an in-depth interview on Global Market Bulletin TV, Chairman Tony Joe made one thing clear: Watton Financial is no longer just a securities brokerage. “We started from a security firm,” he said, “and then we utilized the latest technology to reshape it.” The result is a company attempting to build what Joe calls “the largest AI agents holding company in the world.”
This dramatic identity shift began in 2023 when the company pivoted from traditional financial technology into full artificial intelligence. As Joe stated, “From 2023 we turned our strategy focus from the traditional tech to AI focus,” a move that now anchors Watton’s mission across licensing, global expansion, product development, and pre-launch R&D.
Click here to watch the full interview: Waton Financial (WTF) Chairman Tony Zhou: Building the Future of Regulated Fintech & AI Trading
Why 2025 Became a Foundation Year for Watton’s AI Roadmap
According to Joe, the year following the IPO was intentionally quiet. “We didn’t make that much sound to the market,” he explained, because the company was focused on “preparation and R&D.” As he put it, “2025 is more like a preparation and R&D year for us.”
This internal approach reflects an understanding of how rapidly AI infrastructure is evolving. “The latest tech is growing so fast,” Joe said, noting that Watton needed to solidify its core product architecture instead of chasing short-term publicity. The year was spent recruiting AI talent, expanding engineering capacity, building compliance structures, and refining key software layers that will support Watton’s global AI trading ecosystem.
Watton Financial Wants the Market to Know Its True Identity
Joe is adamant that the company’s identity be properly understood—not as a legacy broker, but as an AI-native enterprise.
“I would like you to label us as an AI agents holding company,” he told Laya Gülen directly.
This framing is significant because it positions Watton not as a firm using AI tools, but as a platform designed to host AI entities as operational participants in financial markets.
The implications are profound. Watton is preparing for a future where AI agents execute trades, optimize portfolios, analyze data feeds, and interact with market infrastructure at a speed and consistency impossible for human traders. This is not mere automation—it is a shift toward AI-native brokerage architecture designed for a new class of users and portfolios.
The SFC Licensing Framework Behind Watton’s Global Expansion
One of the most critical insights Joe shared involves the firm’s regulatory footprint under the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission (SFC). For investors unfamiliar with Hong Kong’s license codes, Joe broke them down clearly. “Type one license means the custodian and brokerage for securities,” he explained. “Number four is the permission for advising stocks. Number five is the option related advising. And number nine is asset management.”
These licenses are the backbone of Watton’s ability to operate globally and to bring AI-native trading to regulated markets. The firm is also expanding its regulatory reach. “We are planning to apply for our number two license,” Joe revealed, which will allow futures and commodities services. Furthermore, the company achieved a significant milestone: “Our type one license was uplifted by SFC in Hong Kong which allows us to do some crypto-related business.”
Having both the licensing framework and the AI infrastructure creates a rare combination of regulatory authority and technological ambition.
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Watton’s AI Vision: Serving the First Generation of AI-Native Traders
Among the interview’s most discussed revelations was Watton’s plan to build the world’s first mobile brokerage platform designed specifically for AI agents. Joe emphasized this repeatedly: “We want to be the first broker platform which serves AI natives.”
He connected this vision to the popularity of AI Arena, an experimental environment where large language models compete in simulated trading. “They have DeepSeek, Gemini, OpenAI cloud and other large language models compete using ten thousand cash portfolios,” Joe said, noting that these models “actually perform good in trading.”
Watton plans to bring this concept directly to retail traders with a new app. “We are launching our app which allows clients to use not only large language models but also the agents do the trades for them.” Users will be able to track, analyze, and interact with the AI’s decision-making. As Joe put it, “You will see for sure from the return of portfolios.”
This is one of the strongest early signals that the company is preparing to introduce an entirely new trading paradigm—one where AIs act as active market participants.
Blockchain Meets AI: Watton’s “Data Pearl” Technology
The interview took a striking turn when Joe explained his view of digital assets. “Personally I am not that big fan of Bitcoin or Ethereum,” he admitted. Instead, he believes the future lies in the intersection between AI and blockchain identity frameworks. “I’ve always believed that blockchain technology might be a puzzle to the incoming AI era,” he said.
Drawing inspiration from the show Westworld, Joe explained how identity and control systems for AI entities must be secured.
“We built the technology which allows you to control your own AI using the so-called data pearl,” he revealed.
The data pearl is a blockchain-based token that acts as a cryptographic control layer for AI agents.
“You can control your AI using that data pearl,” he said, ensuring user ownership and governance.
This technology could become foundational if AI agents evolve into tradable, customizable, or portable digital entities.
The Architecture Behind Watton’s AI Brokerage Cloud
Joe reaffirmed that Watton’s core operational strength lies in its regulated broker cloud services, which already support licensed brokers across the Asia-Pacific region. “Most of our clients are the licensed brokers outside China but in Asia,” he explained. These include Singapore, New Zealand, Australia, and mid-Asia. Their retail clients are heavily interested in “China-based or Asia-based assets,” and Watton provides them access to Hong Kong and US markets.
Because much of Watton’s infrastructure is already operational, the AI layers built on top of it will have immediate real-world utility. Joe stressed that their existing compliance infrastructure makes this possible. “We have enough regulatory experience and knowledge to serve such industry,” he said. When asked about risk, Joe explained how they balance innovation and safety: “We make sure that it is affordable, revealed, and disclosed to our clients.”
Cybersecurity, Data Privacy, and the Competitive Advantage of Trust
When asked about privacy and data security, Joe treated the topic with unusual seriousness. “You are aiming a really critical question,” he told Gülen, noting that privacy will become one of the defining competitive factors in global fintech. He suggested that Western users especially “appreciate more on privacy stuff,” and companies that prioritize it “would gain more trust from clients and help us get market in the world.”
Joe spoke with conviction when he said, “We care this really much, and I believe this would be one reason that our existing or future clients choose us.”
Gatekeeping Risk and Compliance Before Every New Product Build
When discussing how the company avoids regulatory missteps, Joe explained their internal gating strategy. “We do it first and make sure that we are under control,” he said. After validating compliance in Hong Kong and the US, “we just copy what we did to others and provide such services.” This iterative compliance model allows the company to scale without outrunning its rulebook.
Investors Are Waiting for November: Watton’s First Major AI Product Launch
Joe offered one of the interview’s biggest revelations when he confirmed the timeline of Watton’s first major AI-native product launch. “It is expected to be the 15th of November,” he said, although he cautioned the date is not guaranteed. But he emphasized its significance:
“We would make a huge launch with a substantial launch.”
This launch is expected to deliver the transparency investors have been waiting for. “After that date,” Joe said, “the market would find more transparency from our company as well as our product.” He believes the new platform will tell the whole story:
“The upcoming products will just tell everything to the market.”
Where the Public Can Track Verified Updates
Joe ended the interview by urging investors to follow updates through official channels. “They can check our website which is WTF.us,” he said, adding that information will appear in real time. He also recommended monitoring the SEC’s official press releases and Watton’s filings.
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