JPMorgan’s digital currency goes live

JPMorgan’s digital currency, the JPM Coin, is going live with its first commercial customer this week.

The bank-created stablecoin will be used by a multinational IT firm for cross-border payments Takis Georgakopoulos, JPMorgan’s global head of wholesale payments, told CNBC on Oct. 27.

The bank has also created a new division for its digital currency and blockchain business called Onyx. The move marks the bank’s belief that the technologies are ready to be commercialized Georgakopoulos told CNBC.

The bank has also rebranded its 400-plus peer-to-peer blockchain-based network of banks from Interbank Information Network to Liink. 

More than half of the world’s 50 largest banks are Liink members, according to the Onyx website. It also quotes Georgakopoulos as saying:

“Onyx illustrates our commitment to blockchain and other ground-breaking technologies to strengthen and expand J.P. Morgan’s Wholesale Payments platform. We are at the forefront of reimagining and re-architecting better ways to exchange information and value.”

The network will allow member banks to confirm digital transactions far faster and cheaper than the current system, which runs transaction confirmations through the existing SWIFT system—which is itself experimenting with integrating distributed ledger technology. 

The system will help the bank reduce expensive transaction errors. Liink also has the potential to reduce the cost of sending paper checks by mail as much as 75%, Georgakopoulos told CNBC. That service is scheduled to go live in the coming months.

“We created Liink understanding the vast complexities of the global banking system,” Liink founder John Hunter explained on its website. “Through leveraging distributed ledger technology, we have created a more open and efficient network of information sharing, comprised of many of the largest financial institutions in the world.”

JPMorgan first announced its JPM Coin in February of 2019, saying it would be the “payment leg” of transactions ranging from international payments to securities sales.