JPMorgan Chase & Co (NYSE: JPM) has tested a new blockchain platform for issuing financial instruments with the National Bank of Canada and other large firms, which was announced last October.
The platform will be used to streamline origination, settlement, interest rate payments and other processes, Reuters reports.
The test on Wednesday mirrored the Canadian bank’s $150 million offering on the same day of a one-year floating-rate Yankee certificate of deposit.
The platform was built over more than a year using Quorum, a type of open-source blockchain that JPMorgan has developed inhouse and is in discussions to spin off.
Participants in the experiment included Goldman Sachs Asset Management, the fund management arm of Goldman Sachs Group Inc , Pfizer Inc and Legg Mason Inc’s Western Asset and other investors in the certificate of deposit.
Umar Farooq, head of blockchain initiatives for JPMorgan’s corporate and investment bank noted in an interview that JPMorgan is considering spinning off Quorum because the technology has attracted significant outside interest.
Farooq marked that the bank has received interest from financial institutions and large enterprise technology companies. He declined to name the companies.
Blockchain is in the early stages of development in the financial industry, but JPMorgan is optimistic about its potential, Farooq said: “We haven’t really seen a lot of really large scale things go into production yet. There are few cases where blockchain can really shine.”
By Jade Olafson