The project now serves 320 banks around the globe on cross-border payments

The JPMorgan Blockchain Project just got another big player in the blockchain game.

Deutsche Bank has joined JP Morgan Chase’s Interbank Information Network (IIN). This is the financial industry’s single largest blockchain initiative. The data-sharing product features the connection of 320 banks on top of JPMorgan’s Quorum blockchain.

The blockchain project showcases blockchain’s ability to improve settlement times and costs among banks on about 1.5% of their cross-border payments. Previously, it could take days or even weeks to settle matters. This project cuts that time down to hours.

“A network that only has JPMorgan’s clients will have very big natural limitations,”  JPM head of payments, Takis Georgakopoulos, told the Financial Times. “It would mean that all of these other smaller banks would still need to have bifurcated procedures, what they do with JPMorgan and what they do with other banks would still have to be different.”

JPMorgan Blockchain project one of many

Meanwhile, the news comes at a time that other major financial institutions are working on their own block-chain payment projects. For example, Wells Fargo announced on Wednesday that it will start its own cryptocurrency project. This project will center on cross-border payments to facilitate the bank’s operations, according to Reuters.

Meanwhile, Mastercard and blockchain software group R3 announced their partnership to pilot a new blockchain-enabled cross-border payments solution. According to a press release, the project will start by focusing on cross-border connectivity. They will use Mastercard’s clearning and settlement network to expand global payments infrastructures.