State Bank of India joins JPMorgan’s blockchain payments network

Published at: Feb. 23, 2021

The State Bank of India, or SBI — a major Indian government-owned bank — is looking to improve cross-border payments with a blockchain solution by United States investment bank JPMorgan Chase.

According to a Tuesday report by The Economic Times, the SBI has joined Liink, a new blockchain-based interbank data network developed by JPMorgan. By integrating the technology, the bank expects to reduce transaction costs and improve cross-border payments for its customers.

SBI deputy managing director Venkat Nageswar said that the bank has already gone live on Liink. “We are excited to be the first bank in India to go live on the network and look forward to closer partnership with JPMorgan on implementation and exploring applications as part of the network to better serve our clients,” Nageswar stated.

Liink is a peer-to-peer network and ecosystem operating under the umbrella of JPMorgan’s blockchain- and digital-currency-focused business, dubbed Onyx. Piloted in 2017, the product was originally referred to as Interbank Information Network and rebranded as Liink in October 2020.

The Liink solution has enlisted more than 400 financial institutions and corporations in 78 countries, including 27 of the world’s top 50 banks. The network has around 100 live banks on the network, including both state-owned and private institutions, according to The Economic Times.

Prabdev Singh, managing director of JPMorgan Chase India, said that the latest partnership with the SBI falls in line with the company’s plans to expand its blockchain presence in India. “We continue to actively explore how emerging technologies can enhance our clients’ experience,” he said.

In conjunction with rebranding to Liink in October 2020, JPMorgan also launched its proprietary stablecoin, JPM Coin. As previously reported by Cointelegraph, the stablecoin is implemented for cross-border transactions.

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