JPMorgan to Bring Its JPM Coin Deposit Token to Ethereum, Bloomberg Reports

JPMorgan is preparing to bring its dollar deposit token, JPM Coin, to the Ethereum blockchain as the bank seeks to make the product available to a broader range of institutional customers.

The largest U.S. bank is expanding the reach of JPM Coin, which launched nearly a year ago, beyond Base, the layer-2 network developed by Coinbase Global (COIN).

JPMorgan selected Ethereum because it offers deeper liquidity than competing blockchains and already has an established institutional user base, Emma Landriault, head of Kinexys Labs within the bank’s blockchain division Kinexys, told Bloomberg.

The bank signaled plans to expand JPM Coin beyond Base in January, when it said it was exploring deployment on the Canton Network. Making the token available across additional networks is intended to support crypto businesses seeking blockchain-based payment solutions, as well as financial institutions that need digital tokens to settle transactions or provide backing for tokenized assets, Landriault said.

She did not provide a timeline for the Ethereum launch. JPMorgan had not responded to CoinDesk’s request for further information by the time of publication.

Tokenization involves converting real-world assets or financial instruments into digital representations recorded on a blockchain or another distributed ledger. The technology can speed up settlement, enable money to move more quickly and reduce delays and inefficiencies associated with traditional payment infrastructure.

Although banks have increasingly explored tokenization, many initiatives have remained on private networks rather than public blockchains. In the United States, JPMorgan, Citi (C), Bank of America (BAC), Wells Fargo (WFC) and more than a dozen other banks are planning a shared network designed to support tokenized deposits.

JPMorgan’s own Kinexys blockchain platform already processes more than $7 billion in transactions each day. That represents a relatively small share of the bank’s broader payments operation, which handles approximately $12 trillion daily. Meanwhile, DeFiLlama data shows that nearly $50 billion in crypto assets are held in applications built on Ethereum.

Internationally, JPMorgan is also among more than 30 banks working with Swift, the global interbank messaging network, to establish the features and governance framework for a blockchain-based ledger. Swift said in July that 17 banks, including Citi and Wells Fargo, were preparing to test live transactions on the system. JPMorgan was not included in that group.