JPMorgan Carried Out 'Nerdy' Test of Blockchain Payments in Space, Exec Says

The experiment was to trial payments for the internet of things in a "fully decentralized way," said Umar Farooq.

Feb 24, 2021 at 3:39 p.m. UTC

Updated Sep 14, 2021 at 12:16 p.m. UTC

Investment bank JPMorgan Chase has been testing blockchain payments between satellites in earth orbit, executives told Reuters on Wednesday.

“The idea was to explore [internet of things] payments in a fully decentralized way,” Umar Farooq, CEO of the bank's blockchain arm, Onyx, said. The blockchain team worked with Danish company GOMspace, which rents out the use of its satellites.

The tests ultimately showed that blockchain technology could power payments between everyday objects, according to the bank.

“Nowhere is more decentralized and detached from Earth than space. Secondly, we are nerdy and it was a much more fun way to test IoT,” said Farooq.

The internet of things (IoT) describes a network of physical objects that are embedded with sensors or software and can share data.

Christine Moy, the global head of Liink, Onyx by JPMorgan, tweeted:

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