JPMorgan Partners with DBS Group and Temasek to Develop Blockchain-Powered Trade Platform

Leading American bank JPMorgan has joined hands with Singapore-based investment company Temasek and DBS Group Holdings to create a blockchain-enabled foreign exchange settlement, trade, and payment platform for seamless cross-border transactions. 

Leveraging blockchain technology to curb trade frictions

The company behind the new blockchain-powered platform will be called Partior. It will utilize blockchain technology to streamline cross-border currency settlements, trade, and payments by minimizing current latency and frictions. 

As per the announcement:

“Partior is expected to develop wholesale payment rails based on digitized commercial bank money to enable “atomic” -- or instantaneous -- settlement of payments for various types of financial transactions, according to the statement. That would help banks overcome challenges presented by the current standard sequential method of processing global payments.”

Even in the digital era, cross-border payments are at times cumbersome and slow, which is a challenge the blockchain-enabled platform intends to solve.

According to Sopnendu Mohanty, the chief fintech officer at the Monetary Authority of Singapore:

“The launch of Partior is a global watershed moment for digital currencies, marking a move from pilots and experimentations toward commercialization and live adoption.”

In the future, the blockchain-powered platform is expected to be designed to complement the ongoing central bank digital currency (CBDC) initiatives. 

JPMorgan is continuously being involved in the crypto/blockchain space. For instance, the top American bank established an investment “basket” linked to eleven crypto-focused companies like Nvidia, Square, and MicroStrategy last month.

The debt instrument will enable investors to have direct exposure to a basket of more firms, such as PayPal, Advanced Micro Devices, Taiwan Semiconductor Company, Intercontinental Exchange, CME Group, Overstock.com, and Silvergate Capital.

This new financial product is expected to allow institutional investors to gain exposure to the cryptocurrency market without actually holding digital assets directly.