JPMorgan Seeks Patent for Blockchain-Powered Interbank Payments

JPMorgan Chase is seeking to patent a system for using distributed ledgers as a way to facilitate and reconcile financial transactions, newly-released filings show.

In a patent application published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office on Thursday (which was originally submitted last October), JPMorgan outlined a system that uses distributed ledgers to record payments being sent from one bank to another using a peer-to-peer network. According to the bank, the tech's use would provide "a unique system for recording transactions and storing data."

The ability to replicate that data on the ledge across a public or private distribution network offers another benefit, the filing notes.

JPMorgan goes on to explain:

"In one embodiment, a method for processing network payments using a distributed ledger may include: (1) a payment originator initiating a payment instruction to a payment beneficiary; (2) a payment originator bank posting and committing the payment instruction to a distributed ledger on a peer-to-peer network; (3) the payment beneficiary bank posting and committing the payment instruction to the distributed ledger on a peer-to-peer network; and (4) the payment originator bank validating and processing the payment through a payment originator bank internal system and debiting an originator account."

A blockchain could improve upon existing systems by allowing real-time settlement more cheaply and quickly than is possible at present, according to the bank.

"For a cross-border payment to be made from a payment organization to a payment beneficiary, a number of messages must be sent between the banks and clearing houses involved in processing the transaction. This often results in a slow transaction, as there are may be delays in service due to correspondent banking, messaging networks, and clearing intermediaries in the payment flow," the application explains.

It's perhaps unsurprising that JPMorgan would seek a patent for its blockchain-related work in the area of interbank payments. The bank launched a platform for just that kind of service, built on ethereum-offshoot Quorum, days before it filed the patent application.

"Blockchain capabilities have allowed us to rethink how critical information can be sourced and exchanged between global banks," Emma Loftus, head of global payments and foreign exchange for JPMorgan Treasury Services, said at the time.

JPMorgan image via Jonathan Weiss / Shutterstock