Although Jamie Dimon, president of JPMorgan, is not a fan of Bitcoin, he recognized the potential of Blockchain and decentralized finance (DeFi) to modernize the current system.
In the latest earnings call from JPMorgan, which manages assets for more than 3,6 trillions of dollars, the president of the entity Jamie Dimon said that decentralized finance (DeFi) and blockchain are “new and real technologies” that can be used to improve and modernize the current system.
Dimon described, in his letter to investors, that there are many use cases and applications for these new technologies. He pointed out, as an example, the potential for blockchain to be used in contracts and data ownership. He also said these were technologies that can be deployed innovatively, both publicly and privately, with or without permission.
“Decentralized finance and blockchain are real new technologies that can be implemented both publicly and privately, with or without permission. “JPMorgan Chase is at the forefront of this innovation.”
Today, JPMorgan, which is one of the largest and oldest financial institutions in the world, uses technology blockchain from its Liink platform, which was created to allow other financial and banking entities to share complex information with each other, with the security and efficiency that characterizes this technology. The bank also allows institutions to make deposits and transactions in tokenized dollars, using its JPM Coin stablecoin.
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$12.000 billion in technological investment
To drive the modernization and optimization of its infrastructure, both legacy and future, JPMorgan announced that it would increase its annual technology budget to $12.000 billion this year. Within this budget, the bank targets blockchain, the DeFi, artificial intelligence (AI) and the cloud as keys to staying at the forefront of innovation and addressing the wide range of needs of its customers and investors.
In addition, the bank indicated that the resources will be used to hire new talent specialized in technology, develop strategies and a new operating model, migrate its applications, products and data to the cloud, manage regulatory affairs, among other things.
However, according to analysts from Tearsheet, which specializes in the impact of technology in the financial sector, the current technology budget managed by JPMorgan could cause the bank to fail to reach its profitability objectives this year.
The $12.000 billion that JPMorgan has allocated to its current annual technology budget represents a 26% increase over the technology budget allocated in 2020.
JPMorgan offers access to cryptocurrencies and the Metaverse
JPMorgan has been recognizing the potential of the blockchain for years. In 2020, it created a business unit dedicated to the development and adoption of this technology. In February of this year, he joined the Metaverse Decentraland, based on the blockchain Ethereum, to promote knowledge about new technologies and, possibly, offer financial services. The bank also offers exposure and access its institutional and retail clients to crypto assets, through different products and services.
However, despite all this and although Jamie Dimon's recent statements may make it seem that he is changing his opinion about cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, the truth is that he continues to be quite critical.
Thus, the adoption of blockchain technology and several of its derivatives by JPMorgan contrasts somewhat with the position that Dimon maintains on Bitcoin, the most capitalized cryptocurrency in the world and which he has called a “worthless” asset and a "fraud".
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