Chief Information Officer for JP Morgan Chase, Lori Beer has hailed the potential of blockchain technology, emphatically stating that it will replace the existing financial transactions technology. Lori reportedly made the remarks at a press conference in Buenos Aires, Argentina where she talked about the relationship between blockchain with cybersecurity.
According to local cryptocurrency news website Cripto247, Lori predicted that blockchain will take over the technology currently in use. “In a few years blockchain will replace the existing technology, today it only coexists with the current one,” Beer was quoted as saying.
JP Morgan tapping the Benefits of Blockchain
She highlighted blockchain as one of the three major technological focus of the bank. The others are Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Application Programming Interphase (API). Lori explained how JP Morgan was adopting the emerging technology:
“We are currently following many paths. We invented a blockchain with an open code based on Ethereum. Actual blockchain technology has not yet resolved issues with privacy and scalability that we needed. We are connected to Hyperledger and Enterprise Ethereum Alliance. The application of this technology in business is more important to us than the technology itself. We are looking not only for cost reduction but also for opportunities to develop new products.”
She added that the bank uses blockchain technology to “simplify the processing of payments and to store customer information related to the KYC policies and anti-money laundering”
Crypto still a No No for JP Morgan
In contrast to the support for blockchain, Beers said the bank does not currently support cryptocurrencies like bitcoin [BTC] and ether [ETH]. “The bank only “supports everything that is regulated…we aim at everything regulated,” she responded when asked how the bank will address clients who wanted to trade cryptocurrency.
JP Morgan’s CEO, Jamie Dimon has reiterated this stance often in the past; he shows great optimism for blockchain and DLTs while notoriously bashing bitcoin at the same time.
Beer who revealed that JP Morgan has experts monitoring activities in the cryptocurrency space was however silent about Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs) which have become the go-to funding avenue for blockchain and cryptocurrency startups.
Solomon Sunny is the market reporter for Smartereum, one of the global leaders in Ethereum, blockchain and currency news. He produces technical price updates on digital currencies and writes recent developments about blockchain.
