In 2019, JP Morgan made one of the biggest blockchain-related announcements of the year when the banking giant confirmed plans to release their own cryptocurrency, the JPM coin. Since then, the coin has gone live and the bank has even created a new arm of their business solely focused on cryptocurrency and blockchain.
Now, it seems that the bank plans to expand its blockchain use even more as they have recently invited institutions to make use of their new blockchain network. The new blockchain has been dubbed the Liink Banking Network and is a decentralized system for big business.
Liinking Big Business
According to Christine Moy, the head of Liink, it is based on a fork of Ethereum as is less of a “central command product” and more of a decentralized network. Moving forward, Liink is now inviting up to 400 financial institutions to begin building atop its network.
Moy has stated that those who make use of Liink can deploy applications to their specific needs while still maintaining a global reach.
“If a Liink participant has specific expertise around payments in a particular region or currency, for example, it has the opportunity to build an application and deploy it on Liink to make it available to the network,” she said.
Previously, Liink had been called the Interbank Information Network and its main goal was to provide a peer-to-peer system for banks to aid in cross-border transactions. Moy claims that while that is still a focus, there are now plans of incorporating corporates and fintechs into the Liink ecosystem.
With all this effort going into the development of a blockchain system, it has been suggested that JP Morgan is attempting to create the next SWIFT protocol. Moy has denied this, however, stating that Liink was modeled by the company specifically for banks. Thus, they do not seek to replace the current SWIFT protocol but instead to complement it.
Liink is also focused on complementing the now-live JPM coin, says Moy. JP Morgan already had their Quorum Network which was based on the Ethereum blockchain but that is now to be under the Oynx Network. Regardless, all are working together for the benefit of JP Morgan clients.
“The Liink network is live for peer-to-peer information transfer. JPM Coin is obviously value transfer. As part of the broader Onyx organization, we are focused on a coherent client product experience,” says Moy.
