JPMorgan Chase and DBS Bank partner to launch blockchain cross-border payments platform

Major U.S. investment bank JPMorgan Chase is teaming up with Singapore’s largest bank DBS and state investment firm Temasek to launch a new blockchain company focused on global payments and interbank transactions.

The new company, called Partior, will use blockchain technology and digitize commercial banks’ funds to reduce existing friction in cross-border payments, trade transactions and foreign exchange settlements.

This capability will enable instant settlement of all types of transactions, helping the bank overcome challenges related to global payments in the current financial system, JPMorgan said in its announcement on Wednesday.

The new platform builds on past work by JPMorgan and Temasek as part of Project Ubin, a blockchain-based multi-currency payments initiative launched by the Monetary Authority of Singapore in 2017. Partior’s platform will launch with a focus on facilitating the flow of U.S. and Singapore dollars between Singapore-based banks, with the aim of expanding the service to include a variety of currencies in other markets.

The announcement noted that the platform is designed to complement the central bank's ongoing digital currency projects and use cases. MAS Chief Financial Technology Officer Sopnendu Mohanty said Partior provides a foundational global infrastructure for digital currency transactions. He said: "The launch of Partior is a global watershed for digital currencies, marking the move from pilots and experiments to commercialization and real-world adoption."

DBS CEO Piyush Gupta said blockchain technology and smart contracts will enable Partior to support "real-time cross-border multi-currency payments, trade finance, foreign exchange and DVP securities settlement on a world-class platform, building programmability, immutability, traceability into its suite of services."

Participants in all three Partior projects are solidifying their involvement in the cryptocurrency industry. In late 2020, DBS Bank launched a cryptocurrency exchange arm called DBS Digital Exchange, which allows investors to trade major currencies such as Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), Bitcoin Cash (BCH), and XRP.

JPMorgan reportedly began hiring Ethereum developers in April. The company is also rumored to be preparing to launch an actively managed Bitcoin fund. As reported in March, Temasek is said to be a Bitcoin investor.