The government of Bahrain – ranked 3rd in wealthiest Arab nations – is reportedly collaborating with US-based investment bank JPMorgan Chase to work on a cryptocurrency settlement pilot.

Specifically, The Central Bank of Bahrain reportedly disclosed its partnership formed with JPMorgan and the Arab Banking Corporation BSC (Bank ABC), to jointly develop a pilot scheme, dedicated to releasing an instant cross-border payment, operational using digital currency technology.

With a goal to bring down settlement processing time, the new digital currency pilot will reportedly utilize back-and-forth funds sending to Bahrain, for payments from buyers and suppliers. 

The central bank reportedly highlighted that it could continuously work on the initiative, to widen the scope of the partnership to cover a central bank’s digital currency.

“Through this pilot with JPMorgan and Bank ABC, we aspire to address the inefficiencies and pain-points which exist today in the traditional cross-border payments arena,” CBB Governor Rasheed Al-Maraj reportedly remarked. 

Ali Moosa, JPMorgan’s vice chair of wholesale payments, reportedly stated that the new project will come with the involvement of the firm’s digital currency-focused division, generally referred to as Onyx. 

With a trial phase beginning in 2017, the solution was initially known as Interbank Information Network and was rebranded as Liink in October last year. 

“JPMorgan Onyx has been set up with the mandate to lead the buildout of next-generation clearing and settlement infrastructures and we are delighted to partner with a leading central bank and regulators like the CBB to lead the buildout of a next-generation payment and settlement infrastructure”.