Comparing Facebook's Libra and JP. Morgan Chase's JPM Coin

Introduction

Cryptocurrencies have taken the world by storm. The big corporations now want a piece of the trillion-dollar market. And with good reason. Crypto payments are significantly faster, cheaper and seamless for the end consumer seeking to transfer funds to another party. The crypto advantage especially shines through in the case of international money transfers, where traditional banks levy high percentage-term fees, which are a major cost.

Libra by Facebook

Regulatory reactions have been mixed across the world. Central banks are concerned with the loss of control over high value payments, where parties cannot be tracked easily. And when a private corporation like Facebook (saddled with loss of goodwill due to privacy concerns, yet with 2.4 billion-strong user base in Q2 2019) comes up with a cryptocurrency offering, it raises eyebrows. Essentially, the proposed Facebook Libra will be C2C, for the use of the ordinary public.

JPM Coin by JP. Morgan Chase

On the other hand, JP. Morgan Chase, a venerated bank with strong focus on technology has developed the JPM Coin in partnership with ANZ Bank and the Royal Bank of Canada. This cryptocurrency is proposed to be used only for B2B transactions, for the major institutional clients of JP. Morgan Chase. Incredibly massive amounts of payments are expected to pass through this medium, and blockchain technology gives it the safety and security that becomes an absolute need with payments of this size.

Conclusion

JPM Coin is more likely to work out in the short run, since trials have already begun, and bugs are systematically being wiped out. Libra, however, is likely to face far more backlash from regulators across the world, particularly from countries like India, where trading the well-established ones like Ethereum and Bitcoin is actively discouraged by the regulator.