JPMorgan And VISA Developing SWIFT Alternative Powered By Blockchain

The financial services giants are teaming up to build a blockchain based replacement for the SWIFT network. The cross-border payment protocol will be launched in 30 countries by the end of next year.

Wall Street banking giant JPMorgan and payment services giant VISA are teaming up to build a cross-border payment network powered by the blockchain. Both companies will join their blockchain-based solutions ‘Liink’ and ‘B2B Connect’.

The payment protocol will be an alternative to the SWIFT messaging system which is used by over 10,000 financial institutions globally.

JPMorgan developed Liink specifically for cross-border payments under the bank’s blockchain initiative, Onyx – a platform that allows financial institutions to share information and validate transactions over the blockchain.

Onyx also developed an account-information validation system called ‘Confirm’ that is able to verify data shared by more than 3 billion bank accounts from 3,500 financial institutions.

VISA’s B2B Connect, a similar institutional-grade blockchain platform to Onyx, has now been integrated with ‘Confirm’.

According to reports, JPMorgan is looking for founding members and investors to launch Confirm in 10 countries by the end of the year and expand the network to 30 countries by next year. German banking behemoth Deutsche Bank has signed on to become a founding member of the platform.

“Confirm’s growth is heavily influenced by network effects. Naming Deutsche Bank as a founding member, while also establishing interconnectivity to Visa’s B2B blockchain will accelerate our adoption on a global scale,” said Alex Littleton, Global Head of Confirm.

JPMorgan and VISA’s blockchain-based cross-border payment network is being developed to replace the SWIFT network, which is deemed not fit for modern-day demands due to its relatively slow transaction speeds.