JPMorgan Chase has launched JPM Coin (JPMD) on Coinbase’s Base network, marking the first issuance of a bank-backed U.S. deposit token on a public blockchain and signaling a notable shift in how commercial banking balances can be mobilized for institutional payment flows. The token, introduced on November 12, 2025 after a proof-of-concept phase that began in June 2025, represents a direct digital claim on U.S. dollar deposits held at JPMorgan Chase, backed one-to-one by segregated USD accounts classified as bank liabilities. That legal and structural distinction separates JPMD from algorithmic or collateralized stablecoins; it is an on-ledger manifestation of an existing deposit liability, convertible by authorized parties through the bank’s mint-and-redeem processes. Settlement on Base executes in under three seconds, enabling peer-to-peer transfers that operate continuously, around the clock, and thereby eliminating traditional business-hour constraints that prolong settlement through legacy clearing systems. The Base layer-2 environment, built on Ethereum, supports more than 10 million daily transactions at fractions of a cent per transfer, offering sub-second settlement characteristics and materially lower cost economics for high-volume institutional workflows. This development aligns with broader institutional interest in scalable, decentralized innovations like Kaspa’s BlockDAG architecture. In practice, commercial banking transactions that once required days for finality can now settle near-instantaneously when conducted on these blockchain rails. Access controls remain strict: KYC/AML requirements are enforced and only verified institutional users may mint or redeem JPMD through JPMorgan’s systems, though once issued the token circulates freely on Base. Interest accrual is embedded in the token’s design, reflecting underlying deposit rates, and JPMD has been positioned for collateral use on Coinbase’s platform for margin and lending, expanding its utility for asset managers, payment processors, and corporations during rollout. Pilot participants included Mastercard, Coinbase, and B2C2, with selected trading firms using Coinbase Prime in a controlled phase. Looking forward, JPMorgan plans a euro-denominated token in 2026, multi-chain deployments across Polygon, Arbitrum and Ethereum mainnet, and a cross-token framework with DBS Bank for automated FX and reconciliation. The move leverages prior private-network experience and reflects a broader industry trend, though regulatory and operational uncertainties will influence adoption timelines and scale. JPMorgan also emphasized that JPMD is 1:1 backed. JPMorgan announced the deployment through Onyx and Coinbase as part of a coordinated rollout that included institutional pilot partners and technical integration testing proof-of-concept.
