Investing.com - Cryptocurrency prices were lower on Thursday, as JP Morgan launched its own digital coin to help the bank settle payments between clients.
The token, called the “JPM Coin,” will help the bank use the technology behind digital coins to transfer money at the same speed rather than relying on the slower technology of wire transfers, CNBC reported.
While the bank’s coin is based on blockchain, which powers Bitcoin, JP Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon has often said that digital coins are a fraud.
HSBC has used a blockchain-based system to reduce the cost of settling internal foreign exchange transactions by a quarter, according to Reuters. It cleared some $250 billion in transactions using the “FX Everywhere” system last year, and processes between 3,500 and 5,000 internal trades a day. The system isn't yet available to external counterparties, although HSBC recently said it is looking at how it might benefit its multinational clients.
Bitcoin fell 0.78% to $3,592.50 as of 7:51 AM ET (12:51 GMT) on the Investing.com Index.
Cryptocurrencies overall were slightly lower with total coin market capitalization at $120 billion at the time of writing, down from $121 billion on Wednesday.
Ethereum slumped 1.4% to $121.72 and XRP fell 0.88% to $0.30122 while Litecoin was at $41.171, down 3.8%.
In other news, Nasdaq is launching two new indices to track cryptocurrency prices starting Feb. 25. The Bitcoin Liquid Index (BLX) and the Ethereum Liquid Index (ELX) will provide real-time spot rates and be updated every 30 seconds.