The Big Banks’ fear of the decentralized currency world is palpable, both in theory and in practice. This fear has manifested in several institutional financial players first chiding Bitcoin and then embracing the crypto-realm, but the pre-condition of Blockchain’s precedence over Bitcoin has always been maintained.
JP Morgan is the latest in this list, launching the JPM Coin earlier this year, albeit for internal purposes, after Jamie Dimon, its CEO engaged in a series of Bitcoin bashing. Now, the financial giant is interested in crypto-related manpower, but is very careful with the words, dressing the position as a ‘Blockchain Director’ and not anything to do with Bitcoin. A recent job posting on LinkedIn revealed the same.
The official position is titled “Director – Blockchain,” at the Jersey City office of JP Morgan, and was posted less a week ago. According to the posting, the candidate will be operating in the “intersection of blockchain and banking/capital market infrastructure.”
Bitcoin found its only mention in the “Responsibilities” part of the posting, which stated that the candidate should be well-versed in transaction scripting and smart contracts, with emphasis on Bitcoin transactions. The posting read,
“Experience and understanding of transaction scripting and smart contracts, especially Bitcoin style conditionalized transactions”
This very carefully worded and overall curated posting by the firm shows its focus on Blockchain, not Bitcoin. In an email to The Block, JP Morgan clearly laid down the law, reasserting that the candidate will not be operating in the cryptocurrency realm, and will especially steer clear of Bitcoin.
JP Morgan’s representatives stated in the email,
“It would be completely inaccurate to say or report that we are possibly exploring or considering doing any work with bitcoin or other public crypto currencies. We are not – I hope I’m being totally clear.”
From the email above, JP Morgan wants to maintain a clear distance between the banking industry and the cryptocurrency world, however, Blockchain remains the only unifying force. Furthermore, the bank does have a private blockchain for its own clients, Quorum and the recently introduced internal digital asset, the JPM Coin.
Although Bitcoin is clearly not on Jamie Dimon’s mind at the moment, a candidate with the knowledge in scaling the same is highly sought, a puzzling conundrum for the big bank.
