JPMorgan Changes Blockchain Unit from ‘Onyx’ to ‘Kinexys’: Details
JPMorgan is expanding its alliance with blockchain technology. In a recent development, the US-based bank said it has renamed its blockchain unit, originally launched as ‘Onyx’, as ‘Kinexys’ to signify its operational roadmap for Web3 adoption. The rebranding brings with it a range of new financial products and services, with blockchain central. This development follows JPMorgan’s intensified exploration of Real World Asset (RWA) tokenization.
Building on the rebrand, the bank explained that the name ‘Kinexys’ is derived from the word ‘kinetic’, which means ’caused by movement’.
“This is representative of the way we move money, assets and financial information quickly, easily and efficiently around the world. Together with our customers, we strive to go beyond the limitations of existing technology and realize the promise of a multichain world,” said Umar Farooq, co-head of JPMorgan Payments. statement.
As of November 2024, JPMorgan’s market capitalization is reportedly ₹58.517 trillion (approximately $693.5 billion), making it the 13th most valuable company in the world by market capitalization.
In its statement, the bank claimed that the integration of blockchain into its systems has created a secure infrastructure that allows customers to seamlessly transfer funds cross-border even outside traditional market hours, while also enabling new services related to RWA tokenization.
“We will soon be adding foreign currency (FX) capabilities to Kinexys Digital Payments (formerly JPM Coin System). We also announced a proof-of-concept (POC) from Kinexys Digital Assets and Kinexys Labs. This POC demonstrates privacy, identity and configurability across the chain – key themes that will play an important role in our continued evolution,” the statement said.
Over the past two years, JPMorgan’s Onyx initiative has attracted prominent institutional clients including Siemens, Ant International and BlackRock. According to company figures, Onyx managed to cross the notional value of $1.5 trillion (approximately Rs. 1,26,55,856 crore) and handle an average daily transaction volume of over $2 billion.
“We are furthering our exploration of privacy, identity and composability in blockchain ecosystems. Enhanced privacy measures are critical to improving access to digital assets, while streamlining identity management is intrinsically linked to the potential for tokenized assets at scale,” JPMorgan said.
In addition to blockchain, the New York City-based bank is also exploring other Web3 technologies. Despite a slowdown in the Metaverse sector, the bank announced last December that it was looking forward to testing Metaverse’s ‘immersive training applications’.
In May 2022, the bank predicted that as scrutiny of crypto assets increases, they will eventually integrate with traditional finance. That same year, the bank also explored launching a crypto wallet service to meet emerging market demand.
