Hey, it’s Marc!
Last week, JP Morgan did something it had never done before: it put real bank money on a public blockchain. Not their private network. Not their controlled environment. The actual internet, where anyone can see every transaction.
They called it JPMD—JP Morgan Deposit Token. [Announcement]
What happened:
JPMorgan issued a new token called JPMD
It represents real deposits held at JPMorgan
It runs on Base (Coinbase’s public blockchain)
It’s designed for institutional clients
Unlike stablecoins, it can offer interest and deposit insurance
Let's unpack this:
Until now, most stablecoins were backed 1:1 by cash and treasuries — but outside the banking system.
JPMD changes that.
It's essentially a digital version of the deposits that customers hold in their accounts.
In plain English: Commercial bank money, wrapped in a token, moving at crypto speed.
Stablecoins must be backed 1:1 with reserves.
JPMD is not a stablecoin; it’s a deposit token underpinned by fractional banking.
So instead of locking up billions in Treasuries, JPMorgan can put that capital to work — just like with normal deposits.
The evolution: JPM Coin (2019) → Programmable payments (2023) → JPMD deposit token (2025)
Phase 1: Control the Rails
JPM Coin runs on Quorum, the bank's private blockchain. It processes over $2B daily and has handled $1.5T in total volume.
The use case is simple: corporate treasuries moving money between accounts in real-time instead of waiting days for traditional settlement.
Why it works: JPMorgan controls everything—the network, the nodes, the rules. Corporate clients get speed without giving up regulatory comfort.
Phase 2: Add Intelligence
In 2023, JPMorgan added programmable payments to JPM Coin. Companies like Siemens can now trigger automatic payments when preset conditions are met.
Example: Treasury balance drops below $10M → automatically transfer $50M from another account.
The insight: Static cash forecasting is dead. Corporations want dynamic funding that responds to real-time conditions.
Phase 3: Go Public
JPMD breaks JPMorgan's blockchain strategy onto public rails. Unlike fintech stablecoins, JPMD represents actual JPMorgan deposits and runs on Coinbase's Base network.
Key difference: JPMD holders own bank deposits, not treasury bills. They get deposit insurance, interest payments, and full integration with JPMorgan's existing systems.
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Wait, what about JPM coin?
JPMD isn't JPM Coin 2.0. JPM Coin was internal plumbing, a fancy way for JP Morgan to move money between its own clients on a private network. JPMD is the opposite. It runs on Base, Coinbase's blockchain, where anyone can watch transactions happen in real-time.
JPM Coin
Launched in 2019
Runs on JPMorgan’s private blockchain (Onyx)
Used for internal settlements between JPMorgan and corporate clients
Only moves funds within JPMorgan accounts
Think: fast, private rails for moving balances inside the bank
JPMD (JPMorgan Deposit Token)
Aims to move real commercial bank money across institutions
Built for external, interoperable use — like cross-border payments or institutional settlement
Ready to be plugged directly into onchain apps, wallets, and platforms
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Why it’s important
This wasn't just another crypto experiment from a bank's innovation lab. This was America's largest bank admitting that the future of money won't run on the rails they've controlled for decades.
