US banking giant JPMorgan Chase Bank’s blockchain, Quorum, will be used to “tokenize” gold bars. Quorum is the enterprise version of the Ethereum blockchain, developed by JPMorgan Chase, which will ensure users operate smart contracts while using pre-programmed rules to automate them.

The ethereum-based blockchain will afford sustainable miners the opportunity of earning a premium on the global market. In a report on popular news website Financial Review, the development was described as “an indication of new trading opportunities the disruptive technology will create over the coming decade.”

When the blockchain came into the reckoning some years back, its major application was in the financial sector, where digital currencies were created. However, the paradigm shift has prompted diverse applications of distributed ledger technology in other areas like healthcare, aviation, and in banking.

The Financial Review quoted Umar Farooq, JPMorgan Chase’s head of blockchain initiatives, who stated:

“We are the only financial player that owns the entire stack, from the application to the protocol.”

The Development of Quorum

Headquartered in New York and total assets valued at $2.534 trillion, JPMorgan is easily the world’s most valuable bank by market capitalization. With such an overwhelming financial kitty and assets under its management, the bank had been considering the potentials available in the blockchain, particularly on how it could help eliminate unnecessary maintenance costs and harness the comparative advantages of smart contracts into their daily business.

The Quorum blockchain was developed through JPMorgan’s partnership with Ethereum Enterprise Alliance. The usability of Quorum in a private blockchain installation was attained using battle-tested technology from Core OS.

Tokenization: Opening New Portals

Quorum seeks to tokenize assets with the use of blockchain technology to efficiently digitize them so they can move on distributed ledgers. This was the critical point of discussion at the Sibos conference held in Sydney, Australia last week according to Financial Review.

The development will help obviate the need for intermediaries such as an exchange or broker. It could give room for direct transactions among parties and by the process reduce attendant costs and risks.

Earlier this year, America’s largest bank was slammed with a class-action lawsuit for charging customers excessive fees for purchasing cryptocurrencies without notifying them ahead. The bank is also one of the several major banks considering launching a custodial service for institutional investors who want to invest in cryptocurrencies.

Featured image from Shutterstock.