JP Morgan Chase is reportedly in talks with Ethereum-focused firm ConsenSys about a merger with the bank’s in-house, permissioned blockchain project Quorum.
Sources reveal that the terms of the deal are currently being negotiated and are likely to be completed within the next six months.
Quorum is built on Ethereum. The project retains 25 employees worldwide and supports JP Morgan’s Interbank Information Network, a network of 320 banks exchanging global payment information over the blockchain.
The source tells Reuters,
“Quorum is open source, meaning its code is free and may be modified and redistributed. The plan after the merger is to maintain the Quorum brand and keep the technology open source.”
JP Morgan’s digital currency, JPM Coin, is also built on the Ethereum-based Quorum to power instant blockchain payments.
Sources say that a merger with software-production studio ConsenSys, which is focused on solving real-world problems by using Ethereum, would boost JP Morgan’s long-term plan of expanding Quorum.
Meanwhile, ConsenSys just slashed its employee base by 14% as the company’s restructuring process gets underway in order to separate its venture production model from its software development work.
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