J.P. Morgan Chase (JPM.US) appoints co-head of blockchain department to promote tokenization and digital payments

The Zhitong Finance App learned that J.P. Morgan Chase (JPM.US) has appointed a new global co-head of its blockchain division Kinexys. According to a J.P. Morgan Chase spokesperson, Kara Kennedy will co-lead the Edinburgh-based Kinexys with Naveen Mallela. Kara Kennedy will be responsible for Kinexys' digital asset business, focusing on asset tokenization, and Kinexys Labs — a lab that helps clients prototype blockchain projects. Meanwhile, Singapore-based Naveen Mallela will continue to lead payment-related businesses, including Kinexys Digital Payments and Kinexys Liink.

Kara Kennedy previously served as the executive director of J.P. Morgan Securities Services and Head of Digital Asset Products. At the time of Kara Kennedy's appointment, banks and multinational companies around the world are boosting blockchain projects as the US passes landmark stablecoin legislation.

JPMorgan Chase is piloting its JPMD project. According to reports, the JPMD-like stablecoin token is a so-called “deposit token” launched on Coinbase's public blockchain base (built on the Ethereum network). Each deposit token is intended to be a digital map of commercial bank deposits.

JPMD will provide customers with 24-hour settlement services and support payment of interest to holders. It's a “permissioned token,” meaning it's only open to J.P. Morgan's institutional customers — unlike many stablecoins that are open to the public. J.P. Morgan notes that the advantage of introducing deposit tokens rather than stablecoins is that it provides institutional customers with a faster and convenient way to transfer funds while still maintaining close connections with traditional banking systems. A J.P. Morgan Chase spokesperson said the bank plans to continue the pilot in the next few months and then expand to other users and currency types depending on regulatory approval.