J.P. Morgan Chase recently sent blockchain payments between satellites orbiting Earth in a test of the Internet of Things (IoT) payments technology.
IoT payments technology will allow consumers to pay for products via their smart devices, like having their self-driving car pay for gas, Umar Farooq, CEO of Onyx, J.P. Morgan’s blockchain development unit, told Reuters.
But they chose to test it in space for a fully decentralized setting — and because, Farooq added, “we are nerdy and it was a much more fun way to test IoT.”
The satellite test proved IoT payments possible, and also demonstrated the possibility of a data marketplace between private companies’ satellites.
J.P. Morgan used GOMspace’s satellites to run the test, Reuters reported.
In other news, crypto exchange Paxos is filing for a clearing agency license with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), CoinDesk reported.
As a clearing agency, Paxos would be able to facilitate payments and transfer securities for exchanges in the U.S. securities markets. Currently, Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC) is the only such clearing agency in the U.S.
Paxos already settles trades of U.S. equities, but wants to be a full clearing agency, Charles Cascarilla, CEO and founder of Paxos, told CoinDesk.
Cascarilla suggested that a blockchain-based clearing agency might provide greater efficiency in the market, as it would allow Paxos to settle trade same-day, rather than the DTCC’s two-day settlement period. But he wasn’t so sure about its ability to handle the volume of trades.
“I think that will be the case in the future, but, for instance to be able to handle 500 million transactions,” he told CoinDesk. “That is something that you can’t put through, for instance, the Ethereum blockchain.”
Meanwhile, business intelligence firm MicroStrategy bought 19,542 bitcoin, bringing its total bitcoin ownership to 90,531, the company announced in a press release today (Feb. 24).
MicroStrategy paid approximately $1.026 billion to buy the digital coins, paying about $52,765 per coin, after raising money through a convertible debt sale.
“The Company remains focused on our two corporate strategies of growing our enterprise analytics software business and acquiring and holding bitcoin,” said Michael J. Saylor, CEO of MicroStrategy Incorporated, in the press release.
Saylor added that the company plans to continue to acquire more bitcoin and may issue similar debt sales to raise money for the purchases.
Meanwhile, Sebastian Siemiatkowski, Klarna’s CEO, told CNBC that he is “deeply worried” about recent tweets promoting bitcoin. Tweets like those from Tesla CEO Elon Musk have driven bitcoin’s recent rally but have analysts concerned about the effects of this speculative trading.
“If I would take Klarna stock and advertise it with similar writing I would get a fine or I would even be put to jail,” Siemiatkowski said.
He thinks this practice is skating over bitcoin’s risks and could cause retail investor to lose “a lot of money.”
“I am very surprised why regulators aren’t chasing these elements,” he said.
