JPMorgan to bring JPM Coin deposit token to Ethereum, Kinexys exec tells Bloomberg
In brief
- JPM Coin, JPMorgan's dollar deposit token, is expanding from Base to Ethereum.
- Kinexys Labs head Emma Landriault cited Ethereum's liquidity and existing institutional use.
- No launch date was given; JPMorgan hadn't responded to CoinDesk's request for details.
- Kinexys, JPMorgan's private network, handles more than $7 billion a day, CoinDesk reported.
Why Ethereum?
Landriault told Bloomberg the bank picked Ethereum because it offers more liquidity than rival networks and is already used by institutional clients, as reported by CoinDesk. CoinDesk noted that almost $50 billion worth of crypto assets are locked in Ethereum-based applications, according to DeFiLlama.
Landriault said the wider rollout is meant for two groups: crypto firms that want to make blockchain payments, and financial firms that need a digital token to settle trades or back tokenized assets.
She didn't say when JPM Coin would be available on Ethereum. JPMorgan also hadn't responded to CoinDesk's request for details by publication time.
It's not the bank's first step off Base, either. In January, JPMorgan said it was planning to take the token to the Canton Network.
Banks still mostly build on private rails
Tokenization (converting real-world and financial assets into a digital form that's recorded and traded on a decentralized ledger) has caught on with banks, though mostly away from public networks, CoinDesk noted.
JPMorgan's own numbers show it. Its private blockchain network, Kinexys, handles more than $7 billion a day, according to CoinDesk, which is a small piece of the bank's $12 trillion-a-day payments business. JPMorgan, Citi, Bank of America and Wells Fargo (along with more than a dozen other U.S. banks) have also had plans to start a shared network for tokenized deposits.
The Swift ledger
Abroad, JPMorgan is among more than 30 banks helping Swift, the interbank messaging service, define the features and governance of its blockchain-based ledger. In July, Swift said 17 banks, including Citi and Wells Fargo, were preparing to pilot live transactions on that ledger.
JPMorgan wasn't on that list.
Frequently asked questions
What is JPM Coin?
JPM Coin is a token issued by JPMorgan that represents dollar deposits at the bank. It was almost a year old when the Ethereum plan was reported, and it has been running on Base, the layer-2 blockchain built by Coinbase.
Why is JPMorgan bringing JPM Coin to Ethereum?
Emma Landriault, head of Kinexys Labs, told Bloomberg the bank chose Ethereum because it offers more liquidity than rival networks and is already used by institutional clients. The wider rollout targets crypto firms making blockchain payments and financial firms that need a token to settle trades or back tokenized assets.
When will JPM Coin launch on Ethereum?
No date has been given. Landriault didn't say when JPM Coin would become available on Ethereum, and JPMorgan hadn't responded to CoinDesk's request for details by publication time.
