TodayĀ JP MorganĀ announced a new Payments Innovation Lab in Greece with plans to hire 50 people in Athens. It will be involved in global research and development, including for Onyx by JP Morgan, the division responsible for its blockchain innovations.
The new center will help develop solutions that use distributed ledger technology (DLT), artificial intelligence and cryptography.
āWe want to stay at the apex of payments innovation, and our new location in Athens will be a key nerve centre for our cutting edge payments innovation work,ā said Takis Georgakopoulos, Global Head of J.P. Morgan Payments.
It describes Onyx as developing āproducts, platforms and marketplacesā for the firm and its clients.
So what has Onyx been up to so far? Thereās Onyx Digital Assets with anĀ intraday DLT repoĀ application and one forĀ tokenizing collateral. ItsĀ LiinkĀ solution is for messaging around conventional payments.Ā
And thereās JPM Coin which it refers to as a blockchain deposit account. It launched in the United States and is getting ready to launch aĀ Euro version. Some of the JPM Coin solutions focus on providing value-added services to corporate treasurers, such as programmable money. Itās also experimenting with using JPM Coin on a public blockchain as part of Project Guardian, the SingaporeĀ DeFi experimentsĀ with the Monetary Authority of Singapore.
A fourth area caters to some of the most cutting edge aspects, such as digital identity, native digital assets (eg. tokens), renewable energy and DeFi.
But listening to recent talks by the group, you get the distinct impression that what weāve seen so far is the tip of the iceberg.Ā Ā
For example, the bank is looking at making NFT payments more user-friendly. StartupĀ Ramp NetworkĀ just raised a $70 million funding round for doing precisely that. Given that NFTs will play a big role in the metaverse, gaming, sports collectibles, music, art and more, thereās plenty of room for competition.