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JPMorgan Chase & Co., a worldwide banking giant with a market worth of more than $600 billion, has made a big move into the digital asset field by creating JPM Coin (JPMD), a deposit token made for institutional clients.
This announcement on November 12, 2025, makes the bank a direct competitor to the stablecoin titans that control cross-border payments and the DeFi ecosystem.
JPMD uses blockchain technology but is securely rooted in the bank’s deposit system. This gives it speed, security, and the chance to earn interest, unlike most stablecoins, which frequently operate in regulatory gray areas.
The debut comes at a time when tokenized assets are becoming more popular around the world. The total value of tokenized RWAs is now more over $32 billion.
The fact that JPMorgan is getting involved shows that older institutions are not only adapting to crypto, but also changing it to fit into existing financial systems. The bank is testing the waters with pilots that include big names like Mastercard and Coinbase. The rest of the industry is watching intently to see if this hybrid model can connect TradFi with blockchain without the problems that some stablecoins have had with volatility.
The main parts and functions of JPM Coin
JPMD runs on the public Base blockchain, which is an Ethereum Layer-2 network made by Coinbase. This lets transfers happen almost instantly—settled in seconds, 24/7—without the limits of banking hours or the usual delays in settling. This is very different from the SWIFT system, which takes several days to complete transactions and charges up to 6% in fees for cross-border transactions. By adopting Base, JPMorgan gets the strong security of Ethereum with the low prices (less than $0.01 per transaction) and high throughput (over 1,000 TPS) of Layer-2.
As Co-Head of JPMorgan’s blockchain division Kinexys, Naveen Mallela called the coin an early-stage invention that will be rolled out more widely in the future. In a Bloomberg interview, he added, “We’re starting with institutional clients on Base, but we’ll move to other chains and currencies as regulations allow.” Coinbase’s adoption of the token as collateral makes it even more useful because clients can use it for margin trading or lending without having to sell their positions.
Deposit tokens are different from stablecoins that are backed by reserves like Treasuries or cash equivalents since they are direct claims on bank deposits. This structure allows JPMD holders to receive interest—potentially 4-5% based on current rates—while benefiting from full banking regulation, including AML/KYC compliance and FDIC-like safeguards up to $250,000. It’s a small but important difference: Stablecoins like USDT work outside of banks, which means that consumers are at risk of depegging (as when Terra crashed in 2022). On the other hand, deposit tokens like JPMD work perfectly with regulated finance.
The first tests with Mastercard, Coinbase, and B2C2 have shown that it works in the real world: A $10 million transfer across borders took only 10 seconds and cost almost nothing, while SWIFT took 2 to 5 days and charged 1 to 3% fees. McKinsey says that delays in the $150 trillion global payments sector cost businesses $120 billion a year in float losses. This efficiency could change that.
Changing the Status Quo of Stablecoins
Stablecoins have become very popular. USDT and USDC alone have a market valuation of $207 billion and will handle $46 trillion in volumes in 2025, which is more than Visa and PayPal combined. They are attractive because they are stable and useful for DeFi lending, sending money, and trading. However, there has been more regulatory scrutiny: The EU’s MiCA requires 1:1 reserves and audits, while the U.S. GENIUS Act (July 2025) does the same thing. If issuers don’t follow these rules, they could be fined.
JPMD comes in as a “regulated alternative,” giving banks’ trust with blockchain’s quickness. Mallela: “Stablecoins are popular, but deposit tokens are a better choice because they earn interest and stay completely within the banking system.” This would be interesting to institutions that are concerned about stablecoin depegs, such when USDC briefly fell below $1 in March 2023 because of the Silicon Valley Bank debacle.
Competitors are taking action: Citigroup’s Citi Token Services tests deposit tokens on private chains and handles $1 billion in pilots. Santander’s tokenized bonds on Ethereum reached €500 million in 2025. Deutsche Bank’s Project Guardian with Singapore’s MAS tests multi-currency settlements. According to Standard Chartered, HSBC and BNY Mellon want to launch similar products by the first quarter of 2026, with a goal of reaching a $2 trillion tokenized RWA market by 2028.
This is an extension of Kinexys Digital Payments (previously JPMCoin Network), which handles $3 billion a day in tokenized deposits in dollars, euros, and pounds. The public Base shift after private pilots makes it easier for more people to use it. It could even work with DeFi for yield farming while still following the rules.
A Piece of the Global Tokenization Wave
JPMD’s launch comes at a time when banks are digitizing assets to make them more liquid in markets that aren’t very liquid, including real estate, which is worth $300 trillion globally. PayPal’s PYUSD stablecoin exceeded $1 billion in circulation in September 2025, up 400% from the previous year. BNY Mellon’s tokenized MMFs yield 5% or more on-chain.
The GENIUS Act’s clear rules about reserves and audits have led to the creation of $175 billion in U.S. ETFs. Tokenized funds like BlackRock’s BUIDL have reached $500 million in assets under management. According to ECB data, MiCA’s launch in December 2024 has led to the creation of €1 billion in tokenized bonds in Europe. Japan’s JPYC yen stablecoin wants to reach 10 trillion yen ($65 billion) by 2028, but Asia is behind and catching up.
This wave offers 24/7 trading, fractional ownership, and programmable payments, which will cut settlement times from T+2 to instant. According to BCG, institutions could make $10 trillion by 2030, but they need to be careful because of dangers such oracle failures (Chainlink’s outage in 2024) and hackers ($2.1B in 2025, CertiK).
What the Market Did and What Will Happen Next
The debut of JPMD made people feel hopeful: Coinbase’s stock price went up 4% after the news about integration, and Base TVL went up 5% to $5.2 billion. Analysts like Kendrick from JPM regard deposit tokens as “DeFi’s safe harbor,” and they think they might take up 20% of the $300 billion in stablecoin sales by 2027. However, skeptics are worried about centralization. Tokens linked to banks could go against the spirit of crypto, as some people tweeted: “JPMD: Wall Street’s Trojan horse?”
In the long run, JPMorgan’s drive could make tokenization more common, but it will only work if there are multi-chain extensions (like Solana for speed) and regulatory approval. JPMD is more than just a token; it’s a plan for hybrid finance. The bank wants to see $10 billion in daily transactions by 2026.
