In a groundbreaking move, multinational banking giant JPMorgan has unveiled a programmable payment feature for institutional users of its private blockchain platform, JPM Coin. Naveen Mallela, the head of JPMorgan’s bank-led blockchain platform Onyx, announced the release in a LinkedIn post, describing it as a pivotal moment in the evolution of their blockchain offering.
The newly introduced programmable payments feature, now accessible to all institutional clients, facilitates real-time treasury functionality and opens doors to innovative digital business models. Mallela emphasized the significance of this development, labeling it the “holy grail” for JPM Coin.
The Onyx team, in correspondence with Cointelegraph, revealed that this feature has been a long-sought goal in the payments industry, positioning JPMorgan as a global commercial bank pioneering a “first-of-its-kind” solution. The programmable payments cater to blockchain-based accounts on the JPM Coin System, utilizing an “If-This-Then-That” interface for payment programming.
Siemens AG, a prominent German tech firm, has emerged as the first institutional client to leverage this innovative feature, showcasing its practical application as recently as November 6. FedEx and Cargill are anticipated to follow suit before the close of 2023.
Onyx outlined the diverse applications of programmable payments, including dynamic funding and event-based payouts. Dynamic funding allows users to establish rules for dynamically funding a bank account during shortfalls, while event-based payouts enable payment execution based on various events, such as margin calls, asset deliveries, or contractual obligations.
Naveen Mallela expressed the importance of programmability in the digital currency landscape, stating, “Programmability has been a key objective for digital currencies and tokenized money since the beginning.” Siemens AG’s group treasurer, Peter Rathgeb, underscored the advantages of this development, combining features from the crypto world with JPMorgan’s blockchain-based bank accounts. Rathgeb anticipates enhanced automation, optimized working capital utilization, and support for scalable, data-driven digital business models within Siemens.
JPMorgan’s foray into programmable payments is poised to reshape the landscape of institutional blockchain use, with the potential to revolutionize treasury functionality and foster innovative financial models across various industries.
