FirstRand pilots blockchain treasury
FirstRand Bank went live with Kinexys by J.P. Morgan to offer programmable, near‑real‑time blockchain payments for treasury management — enabling 24/7 settlement and auditable programmable workflows. It’s an example of banks moving treasury functions onto permissioned on‑chain rails. (ffnews.com)
Financial IT reported FirstRand’s Kinexys pilot went live on March 18, 2026, as a treasury-group rollout that enabled automated USD flows across the bank’s internal entities. (financialit.net) FirstRand Group Treasurer Bhulesh Singh said the bank has already implemented the solution for intragroup payments and plans to develop improved US-dollar payment solutions for customers across Africa. (financialit.net) The pilot specifically used USD-denominated “Blockchain Deposit Accounts” and set pre-defined Programmable Payments conditions to trigger automated intercompany USD transfers across legal entities. (financialit.net) Kinexys has been rolling out institution-grade features elsewhere, including a pilot issuance of JPMD, a permissioned USD deposit token on Base intended as an alternative to stablecoins for near-instant settlement. (jpmorgan.com) Kinexys previously demonstrated cross-chain Delivery-versus-Payment settlement in a test with Ondo Finance and Chainlink that atomically settled tokenized U.S. Treasuries against USD deposits to synchronize asset and payment legs. (jpmorgan.com) Industry reporting places Kinexys’ cumulative processed transaction volume in the trillions and cites daily volumes in the multiple‑billion‑dollar range, providing scale that institutional treasury teams can leverage. (assettokenization.com) J.P. Morgan framed Kinexys’ MEA push as part of a strategic Payments presence in the region and noted its ability to act as a direct clearer in South African local payment schemes while working with banks like FirstRand. (financialit.net) Kinexys’ public roadmap includes on‑chain FX convertibility and fund tokenization capabilities, which would expand treasury use cases beyond intragroup USD flows to include tokenized assets and cross-currency on‑chain settlement. (paymentsjournal.com)
