Deutsche Bank has announced that it is partnering with JPMorgan in the use of the latter’s blockchain-based P2P platform Interbank Information Network (IIN), in news that slipped somewhat under the crypto radar. The bank, which is going through a delicate restructuring period, announced the move last week amid hopes that the use of the blockchain, which is based on a centralized version of the Ethereum network, will reduce resistance and costs in the payments process. The news will be another blow to XRP fans who are once again forced to witness a large bank choose a competitor over the Ripple network.
JPMorgan Leading the Blockchain Arms Race
JPMorgan’s IIN launched as a pilot in 2017 as a means of addressing the “longstanding challenges of interbank information–sharing.” The network has now grown to include 344 banks, most of whom are banks that use JPMorgan as a correspondent bank to process dollar payments on behalf of clients. Deutsche Bank is the world’s biggest clearer of euro denominated payments, so it’s no surprise that they have joined the party. Takis Georgakopoulos, head of payments at JPMorgan, said that he hoped Deutsche Bank would be “the first of several other large banks” to join the network, which is great news for the adoption of the cryptocurrency that will run on the network – JPM Coin.
More Worries for Ripple
While the news might be good for JPMorgan and Deutsche Bank, it isn’t so great for the heads of Ripple, who have spent the past two years failing in their desire to sign the world’s biggest banks up to their platform. Ripple might be able to boast Santander as a client, but when compared to JPMorgan’s 320 banks, including UBS, the National and Royal banks of Canada, Société Générale, and Santander themselves, it seems that there is only going to be one winner when it comes to bagging banks for your blockchain.
