The largest bank in the United States is playing its role in mainstream crypto adoption as big investors and corporations start to get involved in the crypto market and industry. Despite the unfortunate events that have taken place this year in the crypto space, such as Terra Luna and FTX’s collapse, the financial giant has shown its resolve to forge ahead in its plans to incorporate crypto-related services into its operations. It is also worthy of mention that JP Morgan’s CEO Jamie Dimon is a crypto skeptic and has tagged cryptocurrencies as “decentralized ponzi schemes”, but that hasn’t deterred the company. So, how is JP Morgan driving crypto adoption, especially in traditional finance? Let’s take a look.
JPMorgan to Launch Crypto Wallet
The banking giant successfully trademarked a cryptocurrency wallet, which suggests that it has plans to facilitate the transfer of digital currencies. According to Mike Kondoudis, a patent and trademark lawyer, ‘J.P Morgan Wallet’ is a registered trademark for virtual currency transfer and also extends to the trading of cryptocurrencies and processing transactions made using it.
How Long has JPMorgan Been Betting on Crypto-Related Products?
Despite the bank’s CEO’s reservations about Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, there is evidence to suggest that JPMorgan has always taken a gamble on crypto, or at least, blockchain technology. In fact, it is one of the technology’s earliest supporters and testers. The company had filed a patent for an alternative payments network as far back as 1999. In 2016, it unveiled Juno, “a distributed crypto ledger” and revealed that it was developing its Quorum blockchain on the Ethereum network. JP Morgan is also a member of the Enterprise Ethereum Alliance (EEA).
JP Morgan has continually shown its openness to adopting blockchain technology in its operations. In 2018, it applied for a patent to facilitate interbank payments using blockchain technology. In 2020, JP Morgan became the first U.S. bank to launch a digital coin, JPM Coin, which is pegged to the U.S. dollar and allows customers to make instant payments using blockchain technology. To facilitate these transactions, it simultaneously launched its Onyx network, a blockchain-based platform. There are also reports that the bank plans to also tokenize the euro and enable blockchain-based euro deposits. There is also the possibility that the banking giant may process NFT payments soon. Last month, JP Morgan stated that it was exploring the idea of a digital wallet that would allow users to control their digital identity and assets across DeFi and metaverse applications.
JP Morgan made giant strides this month as traditional finance looks to adopt decentralized finance. It executed its first cross-border payment on a public blockchain by using decentralized finance. The transaction was carried out on the Ethereum layer-2 network Polygon while leveraging Aave Protocol’s permissioned pool concept. That was a big step for the bank and traditional finance.
JP Morgan’s activities in the crypto space are proof that there is a growing demand for crypto-related services. In 2021, JP Morgan co-president Daniel Pinto stated that the bank was willing to explore bitcoin and other crypto assets if there was massive demand from clients. These actions seem to suggest that this is the case right now. Even better, this demand is coming from institutional clients who could further lead the cause for mainstream adoption.
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