In brief
- JPMorgan has launched JPM Coin (JPMD) on Coinbase’s Base network to its institutional clients.
- The token will be accepted as collateral on Coinbase, with plans to expand to other currencies and blockchains pending regulatory approval.
- The launch follows a trial period with Mastercard, Coinbase, and B2C2, part of JPMorgan’s broader push into digital assets.
JPMorgan Chase has launched its deposit token on Coinbase’s Base network, marking the bank’s first deployment of a native payment product on a public blockchain.
The banking giant brought JPM Coin (JPMD) to institutional clients, allowing transactions via the Ethereum layer-2 network to complete instantly around the clock instead of taking multiple business days, according to a Bloomberg report.
The deployment is a major expansion for JPMorgan’s blockchain operations, which have primarily operated on private, permissioned networks since the bank began experimenting with distributed ledger technology in 2019.
Unlike stablecoins, which are privately issued and backed by external reserves, JPMorgan’s deposit token represents money already held as deposits within the bank, effectively a blockchain-based version of commercial bank money.
It carries the same claim on the bank as a traditional account balance but remains available only to institutional clients while regulators review its broader use.
JPMorgan’s token deployment follows a months-long trial period involving Mastercard, Coinbase, and liquidity provider B2C2, according to the report.
The bank plans to extend JPMD access beyond institutional clients and introduce new currency versions, including a euro token called JPME, while expanding to additional blockchains pending regulatory approval.
“Banks must address data privacy concerns, blockchain outages beyond their control, anti-money laundering risks from non-whitelisted wallets, and the need for 24/7 operational oversight—capabilities not yet widespread across financial institutions, Musheer Ahmed, Founder and Managing Director of Finstep Asia, told Decrypt.
Despite those gaps, he added that tokenized deposits will “enable higher efficiency” and help move financial institutions and their clients “towards a 24/7 financial ecosystem.”
Deposit tokens vs stablecoins
Plans for the pilot were first announced in June, dispelling speculation that JPMD might be a stablecoin—rumors that gained traction after JPMorgan filed a trademark application with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
“Moving money should take seconds, not days,” Base said in a statement in June. “Commercial banking is coming on-chain.”
Naveen Mallela, global co-head of JPMorgan’s blockchain division Kinexys, told Bloomberg that deposit tokens give institutions an edge over stablecoins, calling them “a compelling alternative” that “can be yield-bearing.”
JPM Coin will be accepted as collateral on Coinbase, Mallela confirmed.
JPMorgan’s deposit token debut caps a year of digital asset expansion, from settling tokenized U.S. Treasuries on Chainlink in May to enabling 24/7 client settlements with Brevan Howard Digital in August, and more recently allowing institutional clients to use Bitcoin, Ethereum, and crypto ETFs as loan collateral.
Mitchell Amador, CEO of Immunefi, told Decrypt that “blockchains themselves have proven remarkably safe—the infrastructure works,” but warned that the real risk isn’t the token or the chain, it’s the “bridge between traditional banking systems and on-chain environments.”
He said connecting the two “inherits both sets of vulnerabilities,” and noted that DeFi protocols have kept losses below 1% of total value locked this year, a benchmark he called “the standard banks must match as they bring deposits on-chain.”
Daily Debrief Newsletter
Start every day with the top news stories right now, plus original features, a podcast, videos and more.
