From left: Pipit Aneaknithi, president of KASIKORNBANK, and Christine Tan, managing director and head of Asia Pacific – Financial Institutions Group of JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A.
Thailand’s second-largest bank KASIKORNBANK (KBank) has teamed up with J.P. Morgan to introduce Project Carina. The initiative, which was announced at Money 20/20 Asia last week, leverages decentralised blockchain and Web3 technologies to transform cross-border payments and significantly reduce processing time from 72 hours to just five minutes.
The project is a validation of KBank’s pioneering efforts in Web3 banking in Southeast Asia, following the formation of a US$100 million fund to support deep tech start-ups looking to drive business expansion across APAC, and the acquisition of cryptocurrency exchange Satang Corporation which was subsequently renamed as Orbix Trade Company, last year.
By integrating KBank’s Quarix blockchain, which is operated by Orbix Technology and Innovation, with J.P. Morgan’s Onyx platform, Project Carina utilises the Thai Baht-based digital currency Q-money, and JPM Coin, which is tied to U.S. dollar deposit accounts recorded on a private and permissioned blockchain ledger, to power faster and more secure international transactions.
The system is designed to operate non-stop to ensure transactions can be executed at any time of the day throughout the year. The project not only aims to decrease costs and increase transparency but also seeks to induce productivity for corporate customers. The use of smart contract technology within the system is expected to further improve the traceability and monitoring of transactions.
Project Carina will pilot a cross-border transaction starting from May 2024, with funds denominated in Thai Baht using Q-money converted and transferred to a beneficiary account in U.S. dollars held at J.P. Morgan on JPM Coin.
