JPMorgan Chase & Co. has announced that it is making its JPM Coin deposit token available to institutional clients on the Ethereum network. According to The Hindu BusinessLine, the token represents US dollar deposits at the bank and permits transfers in seconds, operating continuously, rather than relying on traditional banking hours that can take several days to settle. The bank stated in a Monday announcement that this expansion extends its push into blockchain payments as Wall Street becomes more comfortable using public networks for financial transactions.
JPM Coin was first launched last year on Base, a blockchain affiliated with Coinbase Global Inc. Emma Landriault, who leads Kinexys Labs within JPMorgan’s Kinexys division, explained that the bank anticipates the token will serve large cryptocurrency clients seeking blockchain-based payment methods, as well as financial institutions requiring digital cash to settle or collateralize tokenized assets. Tokenization, which represents traditional assets like stocks and bonds on blockchain networks, has been explored by banks for over a decade, though much of the prior work focused on private networks where access is restricted.
The shift to public infrastructure, even with limits on token holders, brings Wall Street closer to the crypto ecosystem by enabling access to existing pools of liquidity and developer activity. Landriault noted that the move underscores a year of convergence between traditional finance and digital assets, where institutional web3 players are partnering more closely with traditional financial institutions. The bank chose Ethereum specifically because of its liquidity and existing use among its clients. According to DefiLlama data cited by The Hindu BusinessLine, Ethereum is the largest blockchain by total value of assets locked, holding roughly $50 billion in on-chain applications.
JPMorgan’s expansion aligns with a broader trend among large financial firms seeking to move assets faster using crypto technology. A consortium of over 100 companies, including Visa, Stripe, and Mastercard, issued a US dollar-pegged stablecoin last month. JPMorgan remains a prominent player in blockchain innovation, also operating the Kinexys Blockchain Deposit Account network on its private blockchain. This network handles over $7 billion in daily transactions, a small portion of the roughly $12 trillion processed daily by the bank’s broader payments division.