JP Morgan and Microsoft Announce Strategic Blockchain Partnership

JP Morgan and Microsoft this week announced a strategic partnership to accelerate the adoption of enterprise blockchain. JP Morgan’s Quorum, an enterprise-focused version of Ethereum, will be the first distributed ledger platform available through Microsoft’s Azure Blockchain service, so their customers can build and scale blockchain networks in the cloud.

Based on Ethereum, Quorum is an open-source blockchain platform with “full-service” support. “We are incredibly proud of the success Quorum has had over the last four years, as organizations around the world use Quorum to solve complex business and societal problems via blockchain solutions,” said Umar Farooq, global head of Blockchain, J.P. Morgan, in a press release. “We are delighted to partner alongside Microsoft as we continue to strengthen Quorum and expand capabilities and services on the platform. Azure will bring unique strengths to enterprise clients using Quorum.”

“As digital transformation extends beyond the walls of an individual organization, companies need solutions that enable them to securely share their business processes and data in order to drive imaginative new business models and reinvent industries. We’re thrilled to partner with a leader like J.P. Morgan to establish a foundation on which enterprises and partners can rapidly build and scale blockchain networks,” said Peggy Johnson, executive vice president of Business Development, Microsoft. “Together, we’re taking a truly transformative technology like Quorum and making it available through the Azure platform to accelerate innovation for our customers.”

Louis Vuitton/LVMH, e.g. is in the process of launching a blockchain to track and authenticate it’s high-end goods built on Quorum. The project, code-named AURA, has been in stealth mode for about a year and is being developed in partnership with ConsenSys and Microsoft Azure. LVMH was said to be attracted to Quorum because of its outstanding data-privacy tools.

The most interesting part is the interest for firms such as JP Morgan, LVMH and others, to white-label their platforms for others to use as well. In addition to providing a platform for Quorum customers to build blockchain networks and applications, Quorum will continue to power J.P. Morgan and Microsoft blockchain programs and first-party apps, such as the Interbank Information Network, JPM Coin and Microsoft’s Xbox royalty payment process, among others.