Mr. Pipit Aneaknithi (on the left of the picture), President of KASIKORNBANK, the leader in financial product innovation and services in Thailand, and Ms. Christine Tan (on the right of the picture), Managing Director and Head of Asia Pacific – Financial Institutions Group of JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., the first global bank to offer a blockchain-based platform for wholesale payments transactions, jointly announce the launch of “Project Carina,” a pioneering initiative utilizing Q-money (Thai Baht e-Money on blockchain) and JPM Coin. Q-money operates by KASIKORNBANK (under the regulatory sandbox of the Bank of Thailand) on Quarix, a blockchain operated by Orbix Technology and Innovation Co., Ltd., a company under KASIKORNBANK financial conglomerate, while JPM Coin is a product where USD deposit accounts are recorded on a private, permissioned blockchain ledger. The solution is designed to provide the following benefits to corporate customers:
1. Reducing the transaction times from 72 hours to 5 minutes
2. Providing customers the ability to make payments 24 hours and 365 days a year; and
3. Improving traceability and transaction monitoring with smart contract technology.
Project Carina will pilot a cross-border transaction starting May 2024, with funds in Thai Baht using Q-money being ultimately transferred to a US Dollar beneficiary account held at J.P. Morgan on JPM Coin. Additionally, KASIKORNBANK is in a process of seeking approval to offer the service under the regulatory sandbox of the Bank of Thailand.
