JP Morgan is the First Bank to Launch a Stablecoin

This is not JP Morgan’s first blockchain rodeo. JP Morgan launched an Interbank Information Network (IIN) for cross border payments. 176 banks world wide have joined IIN since 2017.

IIN is designed to transfer information.

JPM coin is designed to instantly transfer value.

Initially it will only be accessible to wholesale customers of JP Morgan. Unlike other stable coins JPM coin is a permissioned private blockchain.

“Pretty much every big corporation is our client, and most of the major banks in the world are, too,” — Umar Farooq, Head of Blockchain Initiatives, JP Morgan

Blockchain will lead to faster settlement times for payments between institutional customers.

This project is huge because:

• It removes the trust issues around if there really is one US dollar held for each stable coin that has been minted.
• JP Morgan is an entity that regulators can regulate, they have a $2.6 Trillion balance sheet and spend approximately $800M a year on cyber security.
• Everyone in the network will have done Anti Money Laundering (AML) and Know Your Customer (KYC) checks.
• Conveyancers could be replaced with a smart contract and lands title office integration.
• A regulated stabled coin makes supply chain payments with smart contracts less risky.

The three use cases for the new coin initially are

• international payments without wire transfers
• securities transactions
• treasury services

The forex risk for companies like Western Union could be eliminated. If you send money via Western Union today your money is available within minutes. It can take up to a day for Western Union’s internal wire transfer to clear. The volatility of the forex rate has to be priced into the fees.

It’s early days but very exciting for the industry, except for Ripple.

JP Morgan is the First Bank to Launch a Stablecoin was originally published in Hacker Noon on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.