Former JP Morgan Heads to Launch Kadena Blockchain January 15

The Kadena blockchain, a forthcoming hybrid blockchain project, is set to launch on January 15^th, 2020. The project has been in the works for over three years and is led by two former leaders of JP Morgan’s blockchain wing.

Details Concerning the Launch of Kadena Blockchain

Kadena is a hybrid blockchain led by two former leads from JP Morgan’s blockchain arm. The project has been in development since 2016 and raised $15 million in 2018 from several VC and angel investors. Notable participants of the funding round included Multicoin Capital, Coinfund, and Devonshire.

Now, after several years of development, Kadena says the blockchain is set to launch on January 15^th, 2020. The platform claims to outperform many of the existing blockchains in a number of ways.

The Kadena team says its blockchain provides secure and scalable solutions to the problems faced by existing blockchains — including proof-of-work issues as well as smart contract solutions seen in Ethereum. For example, while Bitcoin can handle 7 transactions per second on average and Ethereum can manage 15, Kadena boasts 750 transactions per second.

It’s also a hybrid blockchain, meaning it integrates some benefits from both private and public blockchains. Certain data can be made private, for example, and shared only with a select group of users. At the same time, other aspects of the blockchain remain accessible to the public. In this sense, specific data can be audited for compliance by regulatory authorities, while sensitive data can be protected through privacy.

The blockchain is set to have its own native currency. However, due to a unique architecture, the company claims mining the currency is very efficient.

JP Morgan’s Involvement with Blockchain Technology Explained

The Kadena blockchain project features two founders: Will Martino and Stuart Popejoy. Martino previously held positions such as lead enginer for JP Morgan’s blockchain prototype, Juno, as well as tech lead for the SEC’s Cryptocurrency Steering Committee.

Popejoy’s experienced extends to JP Morgan’s Blockchain Center of Excellence, where he served as director. He also carries 15 years of experience when it comes to building trading systems and exchanges in the financial industry.

JP Morgan has shown increased involvement in the digital asset realm. The banking giant’s CEO Jamie Dimon has infamously called Bitcoin ‘a fraud’ in years past. Bitcoin’s underlying technology however, has been notably embraced by his firm following the controversial claim.

For example, in 2018 JP Morgan announced the tokenization of gold bars on Quorum, the bank’s enterprise blockchain built on Ethereum. Later, in 2019, it launched the JPM Coin, which leverages blockchain technology to instantly settle transactions for clients on the JP Morgan Chase payment network. According to the bank’s executives, JPM Coin can drastically simplify the ‘pain point’ of Know Your Customer (KYC) and Anti-Money Laundering (AML) procedures.

Earlier this year, JP Morgan was noted to post more blockchain-related employment positions than any other firm on Wall Street. Even if Dimon remains hostile towards Bitcoin, the banking giant undoubtedly sees benefits in the underlying tech.

What do you think about the launch of the Kadena blockchain? We’d like to know what you think in the comments section below.

Image courtesy of Kadena.