JP Morgan to Open Crypto Lab in Athens

The Athens team will form part of Onyx Blockchain Launch and will be core to the exploration and build-out of Digital Identity solutions. Credit: Thomas Hawk-cc2/Flickr

JP Morgan’s decentralized finance branch Onyx is opening an Innovation Lab in Athens, Greece the platform’s head announced last week.

“The initial focus will be on building blockchain-related capabilities,” the platform’s Head of Blockchain Launch and Onyx Digital Assets, Tyrone Lobban said in a LinkedIn post.

As Lobban explained, the lab’s launch is part of the company’s efforts towards expanding the concept of digital identity, which it considers essential for the further advancement of its Web3 services:

“The Athens team will form part of Onyx Blockchain Launch and will be core to the exploration and build-out of Digital Identity solutions, extending the capabilities we have piloted over the past few years.

“We believe that Digital Identity is key to unlocking scale for web3 and can enable entirely new interactions and services for web2 and web3 alike.”

To this end, Lobban urged talented engineers who “want to work at the cutting edge of blockchain, identity & web3 in Athens,” to apply for the platform’s new positions in Greece, which include full-stack software engineers, a mobile app engineer, and Onyx Launch technical manager.

Onyx by JP Morgan claims to be at the forefront of the shift in the financial services industry. It says it is the first global bank to offer a blockchain-based platform for wholesale payment transactions, helping to re-architect the way that money, information and assets are moving around the world.

JP Morgan’s Jamie Dimon “proud” of his roots in Greece

Greek-American Jamie Dimon the CEO of JP Morgan has visited Greece recently and vowed to expand its office in Greece and to attract high-level staff to the country.

Dimon met Greek PM Kyriakos Mitsotakis in Athens two days after it emerged that JP Morgan had agreed to acquire an around 49% stake in Athens-based payments fintech Viva Wallet, subject to regulatory approvals.

“As you know, we have plans to expand over time, so this could be a technology hub for JP Morgan Chase around the world,” the banking chief said referring to the investment in Viva Wallet.

Dimon referred to his Greek roots: “I am very proud to be Greek and I always think that if my grandparents were here, three of whom immigrated from the country in difficult times, they would be surprised today for two reasons: one is that I am with the Prime Minister and the second is that I am the President and CEO of JP Morgan Chase. So that makes me proud for many different reasons.”