- BItcoin market cap shrank by over 50% since September according to CoinGecko
- JP Morgan keen on establishing dominance in the digital finance ecosystem
- The bank recently invested in a London based global financial services company
In an interview with Bloomberg Television, Takis Georgakopoulos, global head of payments at JP Morgan Chase and Co. highlighted that in the past 6 months, cryptocurrency demand had fallen significantly as an option for payments.
The senior executive noted that the bank is supporting their clients who opt for crypto as payments services, however, cryptos are “a niche use case, at least for now.”
Georgakopoulos believes that the cryptos could serve as an alternative payment option in the future but had some advantages and disadvantages. The advantages include the ability to exchange information and privacy and security features. Jamie Dimon, the CEO of the largest bank by assets, infamously denounced cryptocurrencies. Months later, Dimon regretted his words on crypto; however, he doesn’t bet big on the digital currency.
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JPM is investing in cryptocurrency-based ventures, the senior executive added. They are also interested in Central Bank Digital Currency or CBDC and are monitoring the same.
Several countries including the US and India have announced the development of CBDCs. Georgakopoulos added that JP Morgan is developing its own blockchain network called Onyx. Onyx will allow the bank to work with both CBDCs and fiat currency.
Onyx is designed to enable financial services, some of which include ‘domestic and cross-border payments’; payment settlement for forex, securities and other ‘value-added securities’. Onyx was conceived after the bank’s digital currency ‘JPM Coin’ was successfully used commercially for the first time. JPM and LRC group recently pumped in $20 million into Ownera, a London based financial services company that aims to connect financial markets globally.
Source: https://www.thecoinrepublic.com/2022/09/22/jp-morgans-takis-georgakopoulos-bitcoin-adoption-has-slowed-in-the-past-6-months/