JPMorgan Launches Interbank Payments Platform on Quorum Blockchain

Wall Street banking giant JPMorgan Chase is launching a new interbank payments platform powered by blockchain, the firm announced today.

With the participation of two other banks – Australia-based ANZ and the Royal Bank of Canada (Australia) – the Interbank Information Network (IIN) will be built on Quorum, the ethereum-based blockchain network first unveiled last fall. Additional institutions are expected to join the initiative in the coming months, with a specific focus on the correspondent banking market.

Emma Loftus, head of global payments and foreign exchange for JPMorgan Treasury Services, said in a statement:

"IIN will enhance the client experience, decreasing the amount of time – from weeks to hours – and costs associated with resolving payment delays. Blockchain capabilities have allowed us to rethink how critical information can be sourced and exchanged between global banks."

It's a notable application for the bank, given that its treasury services clear trillions of dollars in transactions per day. Previous reports, including a February 2016 story from the Wall Street Journal, indicated that cross-border payments had emerged as a key use case area for the bank.

And in spite of its CEO's anti-bitcoin stance, the cryptocurrency's underlying tech has been an area of growing focus for the bank in the past year, as seen in its work with Quorum as well as initiatives like the Hyperledger Project and the Enterprise Ethereum Alliance.

Source: Coindesk

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Dimon Breaks Vow : "Bitcoin Buyers Will Pay the Price"

Jamie Dimon is back on the bitcoin commentary bandwagon.

Just a day after declaring on a third-quarter earnings call that he would refrain commenting on the cryptocurrency, the JPMorgan Chase CEO offered a critical take on those investing in bitcoin.

"If you're stupid enough to buy it, you'll pay the price for it one day," he said today at an event hosted by the Institute of International Finance, according to a report from CNBC. During the event, he reportedly voiced support for the cryptocurrency's underlying technology – an area in which the WallStreet bank has undertaken a number of notable efforts, including the Enterprise Ethereum Alliance.

Per CNBC, Dimon also reportedly said that he "could care less about what [price] bitcoin trades at."

A report from Bloomberg includes additional details about Dimon's latest comments. He reportedly said that bitcoin is "great" for criminals, and that – in a refrain from yesterday – that it would be the last time he would comment on the subject.

"Who cares about bitcoin?" he was quoted as saying.

The remarks are the latest from Dimon, whose now-infamous comment in September that bitcoin is a "fraud" sparked a wave of commentary about bitcoin itself as well as the wider cryptocurrency market. Other Wall Street figures, including Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein and ex-Fortress billionaire Mike Novogratz, have also weighed in on the topic.

His comments also come on the day that bitcoin's price rose above $5,800 to hit anew all-time high. At press time, the price of bitcoin is trading at about $5,689, according to the Bitcoin Price Index (BPI).

Source : CoinDesk

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Why Banks are so Nervous About Bitcoin

There was a time where Bitcoin was not even on the radar, it was a novel idea that was primarily used by thieves and drug dealers on the dark web. Nothing to be afraid of in terms of holding a monopoly on money.

However, that same little upstart is now disrupting the system of things; from Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, ICOs and the ever impressive Blockchain technology. This is now a legitimate threat on traditional banks.

"Bitcoin’s skyrocketing run in value, as well as adoption and mainstream acceptance, has led to banks - and regulators, getting very nervous and instigating a few knee jerk reactions. These reactions are, however, simply asserting the fact that Bitcoin is a legitimate disruptive threat."

• Bitcoin taking on the banks

Regulators are trying to play catch up with Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, realising now that it’s not going away. In fact, it is challenging their monetary system which is intrinsically linked to banks, and especially central, government-backed, banks.

China, especially, Russia, recently, Japan and the US have played their hands in varying degrees of harshness in efforts to try and control the decentralized monetary idea.

In fact, traditional centralised, powerful organisations like banks, governments, regulators and technology behemoths are all spending billions in figuring out how to use and control distributed trust technologies.

• A powershift

Banks have existed unchallenged for hundreds of years, and that is the key issue here; Bitcoin, backed by a solid platform such as Blockchain technology, is a ghost that is incredibly hard to control due to its decentralized nature.

"John McAfee has been brazen about regulators’ power plays to try and control Bitcoin, saying that they will never be able to ban it."

The power and control of money is being ripped away from traditional institutions, which can also be seen on Wall Street. Some of these traditional investors are siding with what could be the future, while others vehemently denounce it.

Individuals can now enter into direct peer-to-peer trusted exchanges with strangers. They no longer need a central institution to vouch for the other party.

Just like the fax machine, the library, even metered taxis, new technologies have come along and made others obsolete. Banks are now in the sights of Bitcoin and are in their death throws, as they lash out with the power of states behind them.

However, there’s no stopping progress, and even with state-backed regulations trying to wrestle the money of the people under control, banks have every reason to be nervous.

Source : Cointekegraph

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Wall Street Analyst Bernstein: Bitcoin Is a 'Censorship Resistant Asset Class'

Bitcoin is a "censorship-resistant asset class" – but not quite money – according to analysts for New York-based firm Bernstein.

In a note sent to clients on Wednesday, according to Business Insider, analysts explored that question, ultimately concluding that while it shares some of its characteristics, it falls short under what would be considered "money" today.

"Fiat money is still the final form of settlement – governments still collect taxes in fiat money and salaries are still paid in fiat money," the note explained. "Thus, for now, Bitcoin has only emerged as a 'censorship resistant' asset class."

The analysts notably reckon that bitcoin's ecosystem functions more like a self-reliant economy than, say, strictly a network of digital money.

"Bitcoin could be seen as virtual 'bearer cash' economy supported by a decentralized 'trustless' network – a new crypto economy with its own protocol or policy," the firm wrote in the note. "The faith of its citizens – software developers, miners, investors, early individual and sovereign state adopters [–] would drive the value of that network."

Bernstein's determination is unlikely to sway proponents who say cryptocurrencies represent a new form of money. Indeed, it's a sticking point that has drawn both supporters and critics for as long as bitcoin has been in the public eye.

Some observers have struck a middle ground in the argument. Last month, investor and anarcho-capitalist Doug Casey argued that while bitcoin might be money, it's not likely to last in the long-run.

Source : CoinDesk

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Wall Street May Fall in Love With Blockchain Following The Recent Ethereum Upgrade

Wall Street continues to have a tenuous relationship with Blockchain technology. Large banks have recently made statements both for and against the new technology, with some companies like Bank of America already pursuing patents.

• Problem with privacy:

Part of the struggle these financial platforms are having with Blockchain technology is the issue of privacy. The key issue for traders is to keep their positions a secret in order to keep other traders and competitors out of the loop. While Blockchain technology provides immutability, it does not provide complete security or anonymity - keys for enterprise level financial adoption.

However, the ZK-Snark, or Zero Knowledge proofs recently being enabled on the Ethereumblockchain following the network’s Byzantium upgrade, represent a new way to have both anonymity and immutability on a single chain. According to Bloomberg:

“Its ability to reshape vital financial market functions like clearing and settlement has always hinged on whether banks can keep customer and proprietary data secret. Zero-knowledge proofs, a theoretical possibility for decades, are now a reality, letting transactions be verified without the need to share any of the underlying data.”

Source: Cointelegraph

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