JPMorgan Chase & Co successfully made its first live trade on a public blockchain.

Through the operation, the multinational bank was able to issue $71,000 tokenized. It was part of the Singapore central bank’s pilot programs that are testing the use of decentralized finance (DeFi) in the banking sector. After that trade, JPMorgan exchanged it for tokenized yen with Japan’s SBI Digital Asset Holdings.

It means a big step to enter the system that operates the world of cryptocurrencies and shows the potential for other global banks to follow in its footsteps.

Other banks including DBS Bank Ltd., Standard Chartered PLC and HSBC Holdings Plc are also part of pilot testing rounds for JPMorgan’s live trading on a public blockchain.

This is not the first use of JPMorgan’s blockchain technology to transact.

On May 20, JPMorgan Chase used cryptocurrency tokens as collateral in traditional financial asset transactions for the first time.

Although the live trading transaction was not for cryptocurrencies, the infrastructure used to run the test was developed by crypto firm Polygon blockchain. JPMorgan used Polygon as it makes transactions on the Ethereum blockchain cheaper and a modified version of Aave, a major DeFi lending project.

Tyrone Lobban, head of Blockchain Launch and Onyx Digital Assets at JPMorgan, told Bloomberg that “today was the first step in showing that we can actually trade on these public networks,” adding that “The future is really working to escalate this pivotal moment.”

Before JPMorgan successfully completed live trading, several other Wall Street institutions have been exploring the use of blockchain. There have been tests and research for companies to use the blockchain, especially for intraday repurchase, a kind of short-term loan in fixed income, and cross-border operations.

However, current efforts by banks are often based on private blockchains that require users to be given permission to join.

According to Bloomberg, the use of public blockchains can eliminate challenges such as isolated or fragmented liquidity, which will provide public access to infrastructure.

In the interview with Bloomberg, Lobban added: “We clearly see what is happening in the public domain and we can see how innovation is creating not only new ways of conducting financial transactions, but also new types of products.”

He added that the bank plans to explore the use of other blockchain networks in the future.

In May, JPMorgan announced that the bank would use blockchain technology in collateral settlement, with the intention of expanding into other asset types such as equities and fixed income, according to Bloomberg.

Two of the bank’s entities are using BlackRock money market fund share tokens as collateral on their private blockchains, allowing trading outside of market hours.

To date, the bank has processed more than $300 billion in repo transactions using the blockchain.

In addition to being used for derivatives, repo transactions, securities lending, and other transactions, a blockchain-based collateral settlement will also expand the scope of tokenized collateral application, giving investors a wider variety of assets to invest as collateral.

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