J.P. Morgan's blockchain-based network grows to over 330 banks

By Robert Stevens

J.P. Morgan announced yesterday in a press release that over 330 banks have joined its blockchain network, the Interbank Information Network (IIN).

IIN is designed to share information between banks, to help them make payments—similar to SWIFT. It uses Quorum, a permissioned version of the Ethereum blockchain, with the aim of speeding up global payments.

Deutsche Bank joined the network last week, a partnership that could encourage other large banking institutions to follow suit. While Deutsche Bank has made widespread layoffs in recent months, it still brought in $24 billion in revenue last year.

“The intent with IIN was always to develop a meaningful ecosystem of bank users, all focused on harnessing emerging technologies such as blockchain to better address the complex cross border payments industry,” said John Hunter, global head of clearing for JPMorgan Chase, in a statement.

Head of payments at JPMorgan, Takis Georgakopoulos, told the Financial Times that J.P. Morgan hopes to bring the total number of banks up to 400 by the end of the year.

Earlier this year, J.P. Morgan announced their own blockchain-based stablecoin called JPM Coin. The bank was subsequently grilled alongside Libra about its US-dollar backed cryptocurrency, which many regulators and central banking officials regard as a threat to the authority of central banks.

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