J.P. Morgan publicly unveiled new blockchain initiatives that have gone live on its Liink interbank information network – a piece of intellectual property the bank has made open source.

Birthed as one of many of J.P. Morgan’s blockchain incubation projects, the Ethereum-based interbank information network – first launched in a 2017 pilot and rebranded recently as «Liink» – was originally built for in-house use to streamline cross-border payment processes, specifically to address currency or country-related information requirements.

«This was actually the first time J.P. Morgan as a bank, as a whole, open-sourced anything. That was a major milestone and a big part of J.P. Morgan’s technological history,» said Christine Moy, who was appointed last month to lead the unit, at this year’s Hong Kong FinTech Week.

«And then, a very surprising thing happened. Companies actually picked it up and started using it, unbeknownst to us until they came back and started asking questions».

Blockchain Strategy

Moving forward, J.P. Morgan will continue to focus on reducing cross-border payment friction via Liink by constantly improving its capabilities to comply with instructions and add new functionalities. 

The bank announced at the virtual forum that it had debuted «CONFIRM» in Asia which provides clients with the capability to make real-time validation of account ownership, activity, currency confirmation and more security risk-focused issues – a matter Moy noted was especially key amid increasing fraud during the pandemic. 

And to adhere to specific payment instructions, the bank also launched «FORMAT» on Liink to help client streamline their specific payment processes. 

«For Banks, By Banks»

Earlier this year, ConsenSys acquired Quorum, a variant J.P. Morgan’s Ethereum blockchain, which has become a response to growing inquiries and feedback from clients on Liink potential future as well as demand for ongoing support. 

Moy notes that this will accelerate Liink's growth as J.P. Morgan focuses on further developing the app marketplace for other banks to develop their own applications or to make use go existing ones to create new revenue streams without having to build the whole stack.

«What's really differentiated about Liink is that it's actually a network built for banks, by banks,» Moy added. 

finews.asia is a media partner with HK FinTech Week.