JPMorgan Chase has been revving up to launch a new token that is based on blockchain technology. It is known around the world, but their banking services online experienced an outage this morning. The outage impacted online and mobile banking, which happens to follow the announcement yesterday that the JPM Coin would soon be launched.
To add to the frustration, this outage is much like the one that Wells Fargo experience, which is another US-based bank. The outage only occurred 11 days ago, leaving customers unable to access their accounts online as well. This outage also impacted the mobile app for Wells Fargo, just like what JPMorgan Chase experienced. However, taking it a step further, customers had issues with the Wells Fargo ATMs too.
Right now, there’s nothing to show exactly how severe the outage ways, but it appears that anything that is web-based is not working. Everything is reportedly down since 2:47am UTC.
Furthermore, the biggest issues in the outages are the impact that major cities are suffering from, and there is not even a way to get a hold of customer service right now. On Twitter, a hashtag for the outage is now trending with complaints – #Chasedown.
In an official statement, the bank offered details about what is going on through Twitter, saying,
“We know some customers are having trouble accessing the mobile app and our website. We want to let you know that we are working on it. Thank you for your patience.”
Quickly, customers on Twitter joined the conversation.
User “DownDetector” said,
“HAHA…their site gives link to “contact us” which goes right back to their website and have to log in but can’t. Wow, good thing I’m not taking that seriously.”
GabeShep, another user, said,
“Chase bank creating a stable coin but can’t even keep their fiat systems stable. #chasedown”
Micholiano added,
“When @Chase is holding you money hostage cuz the app is down #ChaseBank #chasedown”
Mrslarsen continued the complaint line, adding,
“Chase Bank has been down for hours. They say it is scheduled maintenance, but that’s BS, since I always get a warning from them a few days in advance of scheduled maint. Hacked? #chasedown”
The new coin that JPMorgan Chase is launching is called JPM Coin, which they claim is a stablecoin, but there’s been plenty of feedback from the public that claims that the token does not qualify as a cryptocurrency. However, it will be meant for the settlement of instant payment on their platform. It is still being called a stablecoin because it will be used at a direct 1:1 ratio with the US dollar.
Right now, according to reports from CNBC, the coin has three purposes – cross-border payments, securities transactions, and transaction consolidation.
Jamie Dimon, the CEO of JPMorgan Chase, released a statement, saying,
“JPM Coin is currently designed for business-to-business money movement flows, and because we are still in a testing phase, we don’t have plans to make this available to individuals at this stage. That said, the cost-savings and efficiency benefits would extend to the end customers of our institutional clients.”
Is the outage from some kind of crypto karma, after all of the bashing that the CEO has spoken through the years about the industry? Probably not, but it is still a very interesting coincidence.
