Most people have heard of J.P.Morgan, but far fewer have heard of Kinexys, the bank's blockchain platform for programmable payments, asset tokenization, and near-real-time settlement across global markets. We set out to close that gap with the Kinexys simulator.
Blockchain's benefits are real but can be hard to see. For prospective clients who are financial officers and institutional decision-makers across a huge variety of industries, understanding what blockchain actually does for their business requires more than a generalized pitch deck. JPM asked us to create an interactive simulation that made Kinexys's value tangible, and to do it in time for the crypto conference Consensus.
Building upon our Sylvain colleagues’ underpinning strategy, The New Physics of Finance, we developed the vision and prototype for a web experience that puts users inside real financial scenarios and lets them witness firsthand the difference Kinexys makes. In a traditional finance transaction, there are typically gravity-like constraints slowing everything down: transactions are routed through intermediaries, settlement windows can last 48 hours, and there are strict trading windows. These can feel as immovable as physical laws of nature. But Kinexys changes these laws. Per the strategy, it’s like a new physics, as prior restrictions fall away. So in the spirit of Newton’s apple, the simulator is designed to deliver an ah-ha moment, showing how transactions that once took days settle in seconds. When the old rules of money movement no longer apply, capital can move with new agility.
Rather than attempt to explain blockchain outright, we developed four scenarios that could deliver that intuitive ah-ha moment. Built around the Kinexys core products On-Chain FX, Fund Flow, JPM Coin, and Programmable Payments, each scenario drops users into a high-stakes situation with clear consequences. Confronted with a $25 million trade, a closing window, and a system that either moves fast enough or doesn't, users don't have to read about Kinexys’s benefits and try to calculate the potential relevance to their own workflows. Instead, they simply watch. Physics is intuitive. We understand viscerally what it means for something to move freely versus encounter resistance. With blockchain's benefits encoded as a physics simulation rather than a chart or explainer, a user intuitively understands the Kinexys impact right on the spot.
The early stages of the project were dedicated to securing internal JPM approval to proceed with the simulator and booth at the Consensus conference. We developed the simulation framework, writing scenario narratives for each product, and produced a pitch for JPM stakeholders. Then, we developed the design language, a physics-inspired visual system with particle effects, health bars, and scenario-specific mechanics, alongside a full brand ecosystem: color palette, UI components, motion, and social assets. We wrote all scenario copy across the simulations, working through multiple rounds of stakeholder review and developing legal disclaimer language, footnotes, and approved balance sheet messaging along the way.
We engineered the product so it would be scalable from an iPad to a large display. As a single web-based build, the Simulator was made to travel, and is easily deployed in conference booths, sales meetings, owned digital channels, and internal trainings. That portability shaped every decision, from touchscreen-ready engineering to a mobile-optimized UI with progressive disclosure and safe-zone padding for conference environments.
The final product is as persuasive as it is portable. Live at Consensus, the start screen was engaging enough to stop people mid-aisle, and substantive enough to hold them.
