In an announcement that had been speculated about in the media, ConsenSys, which serves as a startup incubator for Ethereum-based projects, has acquired JPMorgan’s Quorum platform.
The announcement closely aligns the worlds of traditional and decentralized finance (). JPMorgan has officially gone down the cryptocurrency rabbit hole.
was forged with an investment in ConsenSys from the largest US bank, the details of which both companies are holding close to the vest.
As part of the deal, ConSenSys is buying and managing the open-source Quorum platform, a move that, according to the announcement, is designed to hasten corporate adoption of blockchain technology on the second-biggest blockchain network, Ethereum.
The combination is no doubt a shot in the arm to the Brooklyn-based blockchain startup, which, according to reports, was not able to escape the wrath of the COVID-19 pandemic due to recent layoffs
Quorum has roughly two dozen employees. Umar Farooq, who heads the blockchain unit for JPMorgan, told Reuters that the employees will stay at the bank during the transition over the course of the next year.
ConsenSys founder Joseph Lubin explained on Twitter that the product roadmaps of its “mainnet-compatible client, Hyperledger Besu,” will converge with that of JPMorgan’s Quorum. He also touted greater “convergence of startups and large orgs on mainnet”, adding:
Crypto Reaction to ConsenSys Deal
ConsenSys Quorum, as it will now be known, is described as an “open-source protocol layer” that will support businesses building either public or private solutions on the Ethereum blockchain.
Up till now, JPMorgan’s Quorum protocol was focused on private Ethereum-based networks, given the sensitive nature of the information that the bank’s clients use it for. But under ConsenSys, the blueprint is much broader,
In the near future, ConsenSys will work towards making GoQuorum interoperable with Hyperledger Besu, aligning with ConsenSys’ vision of enabling both private and public network use cases,
Crypto market leaders, including Galaxy Digital Founder Mike Novogratz, cheered the development on Twitter:
Ian Love, founder and CEO of Blockchain Assets, threw the question out about how the combination could be a catalyst for mainstream adoption.
Wall Street’s Turnaround
JPMorgan has come a long way from when the firm’s CEO, Jamie Dimon, denounced bitcoin. After launching Quorum, the investment bank is now teaming up with some of the most high-profile developers working on the cutting edge scene.
Earlier this month, another leading Wall Street bank, Goldman Sachs, selected Matthew McDermott to spearhead its new digital assets group.
Goldman is seemingly hot on the trail of JPMorgan after reportedly hiring Oli Harris — who worked on the infamous JPM Coin — for its digital assets team. Incidentally, ConsenSys’ Lubin is an alum of Goldman Sachs, where he worked during the turn of the century.
BeInCrypto has reached out to ConsenSys and JPMorgan for comment and will update this article if and when we receive a response.
