JPMorgan is launching a crypto innovation lab in Athens

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(Kitco News) – JPMorgan is starting to warm up to blockchain. The largest bank in the United States by assets has signaled its intentions to open a crypto innovation lab in Athens, Greece to promote developments in blockchain technology, artificial intelligence (AI) and cryptography.

According to a report by E-Financial Careers, Tryone Lobbam, head of JPMorgan’s DeFi platform Onyx, revealed that JPMorgan is “opening an Innovation Lab in Athens, with an initial focus on building blockchain-related capabilities to support Onyx.”

Developed by the bank in 2020, Onyx is a blockchain-based platform for wholesale payment transactions.

The new crypto lab currently has four open engineering roles ranging in seniority from associate to CEO, including positions for two full-stack developers, a mobile app engineer, and a launch engineering manager.

The mobile app engineer will also be responsible for creating “performing blockchain-based Digital Identity mobile apps and wallet prototypes,” according to Lobban, who added that “digital identity is the key to unlocking scale for web3 and can enable entirely new interactions and services for web2 and web3 like.”

This development from New York-based JPMorgan comes at an interesting time for the global economy as the bank sheds traditional engineering roles while hiring blockchain talent, suggesting a shift in the way traditional finance is approaching the realm of blockchain.

JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon – who also happens to be Greek-American – is known for his consistent anti-crypto comments over the years.

“I’m a big skeptic of crypto-tokens, which you call currency, like Bitcoin,” Dimon said during testimony before the House Financial Services Committee in September. “They’re decentralized Ponzi schemes, and the notion that it’s good for anybody is unbelievable.”

Crypto can also be “dangerous,” Dimon added, pointing to billions of dollars stolen via hacking, theft and other schemes in addition to issues like money laundering. In October 2021, the CEO called Bitcoin worthless as it traded near its all-time highs. The crypto winter of 2022-23 has only served to further cement Dimon’s opinion of the asset class.

The launch of the new crypto lab highlights JPMorgan and Jamie Dimon’s focus on “blockchain, not Bitcoin,” which has become a common phrase in mainstream financial circles, alluding to the promising features of blockchain technology while avoiding what they consider to be “speculative assets”. without intrinsic value.”

Despite its history of negative comments from Dimon, JPMorgan has slowly increased its engagement with the crypto community over the past year from its position as the leading US bank.

In November, the US Patent and Trademark Office approved the bank’s trademark application for the “JP Morgan Wallet,” which is designed to transfer and exchange virtual currencies, facilitate the processing of crypto payments, and support virtual checking accounts and financial services in general.

The trademark filing also showed that JPMorgan is preparing to offer crypto wallet services for members of online communities in multiple countries, offering support for different languages ​​and currencies.

In November, the bank also participated in a project with the Monetary Authority of Singapore that sought to pilot digital asset and decentralized finance (DeFi) use cases where JPMorgan conducted its first live trade on a public blockchain. The bank has also partnered with Visa to work on developing cross-border payments through the use of their private blockchain network Liink and B2B Connect.

And it’s not just JPMorgan that is wading deeper into the crypto ecosystem. According to a report released by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) Office of Inspector General, as of January, “the FDIC was aware that 136 insured banks had ongoing or planned crypto-asset-related activities. For example, these banks have agreements with third parties that allow bank customers buy and sell cryptoassets. Banks also offer account deposit services, custody services and lending to cryptoasset exchanges.”