JPMorgan Chase & Co., the American multinational financial behemoth, has partnered with Indian banks to launch a blockchain-based platform to settle interbank dollar transactions. The partner banks are based in Gujarat International Finance Tec-City (GIFT City) and include HDFC Bank Ltd., ICICI Bank Ltd., Axis Bank Ltd., Yes Bank Ltd., and IndusInd Bank Ltd.
This move is a part of the Indian government’s strategy of elevating GIFT City to the level of cities like Singapore, Hong Kong, International Financial Centre (IFC) in Dubai, and Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM). Kaustubh Kulkarni, Vice Chairman of Asia Pacific at JPMorgan, has revealed that the institution will launch a pilot project in the coming months to assess banks’ experience.
JPMorgan intends to use blockchain technology to settle dollar transactions between financial institutions in a matter of seconds. Once the blockchain infrastructure is in place, GIFT City banks will be able to maintain their own time zone and business hours.
The pilot project backed by Onyx blockchain technology, launched by JPMorgan in 2020, is set to begin on Monday after receiving clearance from the International Financial Services Centre Authority. Onyx is a blockchain-based platform for wholesale payment transactions.
This partnership between JPMorgan and Indian banks is expected to drive the country’s efforts to make GIFT City a competitive financial hub.
