JPMorgan Chase just became the latest bank to leave the R3 Consortium behind, due to “technological differences,” which went against R3’s roadmap.
Charley Cooper, managing director at R3, told Bank Innovation in an emailed statement:
JPMorgan parted ways with R3 to pursue a very distinct technology path which is at odds with the one chosen by the global financial services industry, represented by our 80 plus members.
The bank joins the pipeline of FIs, including Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, and Banco Santander, who left the consortium behind late last year.
R3, a project dedicated to creating blockchain solutions focused on financial services, first confirmed JPMorgan’s departure to Reuters earlier today.
The company announced its intent to raise $150 million from its members late last year; both Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs declined to participate in the funding round, as Bank Innovation reported at the time. As yet, R3 has not closed the request for funding.
Presently, the consortium has about 80 members across the globe.
R3 might have been one of the original consortiums for blockchain, but this kind of model has gained popularity over the years, with players like the Hyperledger Project, with members like IBM, and incidentally, JPMorgan Chase, as well as the Enterprise Ethereum Alliance (JP Morgan is a member of that one too).
Bank Innovation has reached out to JPMorgan for comment.