Report: JPMorgan Could Merge In-House Blockchain Unit Quorum with ConsenSys

As of February 11^th, 2020, JPMorgan Chase & Co is reportedly in talks of merging Quorum with ConsenSys. The banking giant has been exploring different options for Quorum throughout the past two years and has supposedly deemed a merger with ConsenSys as the best path forward.

What is JPMorgan’s Quorum Blockchain?

Acording to a report from Reuters, unidentified sources who are “familiar with the plans” say JPMorgan is considering a significant move with its blockchain entity, Quorum. As JPMorgan’s enterprise blockchain platform, plans for Quorum first surfaced back in 2016.

Since that time, Quorum has been developed on Ethereum with added privacy and permissions. Quroum has seen success in a number of ways. It has partnered with Microsoft and tokenized assets to include gold bars.

Quorum is also leveraged as the foundation of JPMorgan’s Interbank Information Network (IIN). The IIN is a payments conglomerate that spans over 300 banks.

JPMorgan, the United States’ largest bank by assets with a total asset value of nearly $2.7 trillion, has also revealed plans to issue its own digital currency. The JPM Coin is designed to support payments and instantly settle transactions using blockchains technology.

Talks of JPMorgan Merging with ConsenSys Explained

Sources say JPMorgan has been exploring different directions to take Quorum for quite some time. Considerations have included a new startup, establishing an open-source foundation, or merging Quorum with another company. The exploration phase has supposedly been ongoing for the past two years.

In the end, a merger with ConsenSys is likely to take place, according to sources. Both entities work with ethereum and have collaborated in the past.

ConsenSys was founded by Ethereum co-founder Joe Lubin. The company is headquartered in Brooklyn and features 900 employees.

The company has its own broker-dealer arm, ConsenSys Digital Securities (CDS). Just last week, CDS acquired SEC-registered broker-dealer Heritage Financial Systems. At the same time, ConsenSys announced plans to tokenize municipal bonds in the United States. Through the acquisition, CDS will likely have the regulatory approval to offer bond-backed security tokens to investors based in the U.S.

What do you think about the ‘insider talks’ of JPMorgan merging with ConsenSys? How do you think the situation will unfold? We want to know what you think in the comments section below.

Image courtesy of Bloomberg.