J.P. Morgan Blockchain Tops Ripple Signing Up 201 Global Banks

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by Darya Rudz · 3 min read
J.P. Morgan Blockchain Tops Ripple Signing Up 201 Global Banks
Photo: Håkan Dahlström / Flickr

JPMorgan rapidly expands its Interbank Information Network (IIN) reporting a whopping 201 banks joining its blockchain. Meanwhile, IBM and Stellar also push it hard to win over leading banking institutions globally. Is it time for Ripple to move a bit?

Investment banking giant JPMorgan Chase has recently released a report that shows the company’s expansion and signing up of a large number of banks to its Interbank Information Network (IIN), a permissioned variant of the Ethereum blockchain.

According to the report, 201 banks are now able to exchange information in real-time as a way to verify that a payment has been approved. Among them are such institutions as the Royal Bank of Canada, India’s ICICI Bank, Bank of Sharjah, National Australia Bank Limited, and more.

Suresh Shetty, Blockchain Technology Lead for IIN, commented:

“Historically, correspondent banks communicate one-way, bank-to-bank, but we have transformed their interaction. When a payment detail is flagged for confirmation, different parties can interact simultaneously, requesting and sharing information.”

John Hunter, Head of Global Clearing for Treasury Services at JPMorgan, said:

“The more banks that join the network, the more dramatic the reduction in payment delays. As the network scales, our clients’ payments will be processed faster with less operational expense.”

JPMorgan Improving Its Payment System

The expansion of JPMorgan’s IIN demonstrates the company’s leadership in developing blockchain technology at scale and commitment to creating solutions tailored to clients’ needs. The company is not going to stop at that and is looking for ways to expand its use of blockchain technology to improve the banking industry’s payment system. According to John Hunter, the bank is ‘looking at the ability to do more at the point of settlement.’

Among the recently created functions is one that allows for real-time verification that a transaction is being sent to a valid account.

Hunter said:

“Banks straight through processing rates are in the mid-80s to the mid-90s. It’s that gap — the 5 to 20 per cent of payments — that have to be assessed by operations where we’re trying to alleviate some of that pain.”

It is expected that the new settlement system, useful for both domestic and international payments, will be live by the third quarter of this year.

Further, the IIN is setting up a testing sandbox to enable fintech firms to develop and launch applications based on INN features. That is also expected to launch in the third quarter.

Is Ripple Left in the Basket?

Despite the fact that the role of Ripple’s XRP in cross-border remittance cannot be underemphasized, the development of JPMorgan and its expansion may punch Ripple really hard. But there is even more to come.

In September last year, Stellar Lumens (XLM) has partnered with computer hardware giant IBM to work on the IBM Blockchain World Wire, a project expected to become one of the largest decentralized cross-border remittance networks on the Stellar blockchain.

IBM, that in March was working with six non-U.S. banks on the issuance of digital currencies and now has payment locations in 72 countries supporting 47 cryptos, together with Stellar make a great competition to Ripple that scored 200 consumers worldwide at the beginning of 2019.

Lately, there has been no news from Ripple, and it seems the company does not worry about the competitive position in the industry. Crypto sphere is developing rapidly, and in order to stay onboard, companies go above and beyond. If Ripple wants to still stay competitive and lead the crypto game, its team should think of how to surprise the community in the nearest future until it’s too late.

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