R3 Funding: JPMorgan Among 7 Banks That Could Be Out of Deal

Update 30th November: This article has been updated with comment from R3CEV officials.

As many as seven of the original 42 members of the R3CEV banking consortium have yet to express interest in funding the startup's ongoing $150m funding round, leaked documents reveal.

Released on PasteBin (now recovered here) this morning (and confirmed by sources close to the deal), the text details a list of the banks that have expressed interest in participating in the funding, how much each could invest and the names of seven banks that are alleged to have opted-out.

The list of banks includes names that have confirmed they are no longer participating in the consortium, including Banco Santander and Goldman Sachs, as well as those that were previously rumored to have withdrawn (such as Morgan Stanley and National Bank Australia) but that have yet to publicly respond.

New banks that have reportedly yet to submit a bid as part of the funding including JP Morgan, Macquarie Group and US Bancorp, though it is unclear if they are out of the consortium officially or if they have yet to confirm interest.

Representatives of Macquarie and US Bancorp did not respond to inquires for more information at press time.

Officials at R3CEV claim JP Morgan remains active in negotiations. JP Morgan declined to comment on the matter.

A person close to the bank, however, said that the firm still intends to be a member of R3 and that it has "no intention of dropping its membership" but that it won't likely participate in the round.

Another source close to the deal suggested that some of the banks listed may yet submit bids as part of the funding round. Non-binding declarations of interest were due on Friday, with the list of participating banks disseminated on Tuesday.

As previously reported, the majority of banks (now confirmed to be 35) have indicated interest in funding R3, which aims to open-source its distributed ledger platform Corda later this month.

The original 42 members of R3 now have the first opportunity to fund the startup, though R3 has said it could be opened to more member-banks and outside investors.

At $150m, the round still could end up being the largest in history for any blockchain firm. As detailed in the document, as much as $56.5m has so far been pledged.

Representatives of R3 could not be reached at press time.

Leaked water pipe image via Shutterstock