JP Morgan makes a historical move with new crypto wallet

GB Market Commentary 23/11/2022

by Marcus Sotiriou

Bitcoin and crypto markets bounced back today following the continuation of a relief rally in the S&P 500. 137,000 Bitcoin has been removed from exchanges in the past 30 days, as investors lose trust in exchanges and trading platforms which are not transparent.

Retail investors are accumulating at a rapid pace, as the Bitcoin supply held by on-chain entities between the size of 0.1-1 BTC is spiking.

Whilst the stability of the crypto ecosystem remains in question, JP Morgan continues to make moves toward integrating crypto products. JP Morgan has registered a JP Morgan Wallet with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) to use in a wide range of financial services, including cryptocurrency transfers and crypto payment services.

The terms used to describe the services that are enabled with this registration are “electronic transfer of virtual currencies,” “financial exchange of virtual currencies,” and “cryptocurrency payment processing,” shown by the USPTO website.

JP Morgan described the wallet as:

“Real-time virtual sub-ledgers that help manage and scale any number of customer, supplier and vendor payments in an organized, easy-to-reconcile way.”

JP Morgan intends to “help simplify domestic and cross-border receivables and disbursements” with the implementation of this wallet, and also develop “sophisticated payments solutions like connected mobility solutions and blockchain platforms that can help you say more to the world.”

Furthermore, Singapore’s largest bank, DBS, completed an intraday repo trade on JP Morgan's Onyx (JP Morgan’s own blockchain ecosystem). Usually, repo trades take two days to settle, however by using blockchain technology these transactions can settle in just a few hours.

This proves the potential for blockchain technology to disrupt the $4 trillion repo market, and revolutionise the financial services industry.