- JPMorgan plans dollar backed stablecoin to complement its deposit coin.
- Dimon sees stablecoins as a way to close the cost gap with fintech firms.
Jamie Dimon has torn up his long-held scepticism. On 15 July the JPMorgan chief told analysts the bank will issue a fully reserved dollar stablecoin, expanding beyond its private deposit coin. The move comes as stablecoin supply passes 250 billion dollars and Congress edges toward formal rules. Traditional banks have decided they can no longer leave this fee-saving payment rail to crypto natives.
Dimon aligns with market demand
Speaking on the second quarter call Dimon said the bank “will be involved in both the deposit coin and stablecoins to understand it, to be good at it.” He added that fintech groups use tokens to skirt interchange fees, forcing banks to respond. JPMorgan already settles about 2 billion dollars a day on its Kinexys blockchain and last month tested a tokenised deposit on Coinbase’s Base network. The public stablecoin would extend that architecture to non-clients, matching Tether’s reach and Circle’s institutional pitch.
Tether’s USDT still dominates with more than 60 percent share, while Circle’s USDC is popular with regulated funds and Ripple’s forthcoming RLUSD targets on-chain trade-finance. A JPMorgan token carries the heft of a 3.7-trillion-dollar balance sheet and could prise corporates away from crypto-native issuers who must rely on third-party banks for reserves.
Regulatory clock ticks
JPMorgan is timing its launch around the Growing Economy in Nationally Important Sectors Unified with Secure Stablecoins Act, or Genius Act, which aims to impose daily attestations and Treasury-only backing. The House failed to advance the bill this week but leadership says a fresh vote could come before the recess. Dimon told lawmakers the bank supports clear, bank-level capital rules in exchange for nationwide issuance rights.
Regulatory momentum reflects the scale of the market. Total stablecoin supply topped 250 billion dollars in June, a fivefold jump since 2023, fuelled by cross-border payrolls and on-chain treasury operations. Analysts at Seaport Securities see two trillion dollars of circulating tokens within five years, a forecast that would make stablecoins a funding rival to money-market funds. Banks such as Citi and Bank of America are already studying deposit coins, and Mastercard is building on-ramps.
For now the timetable at JPMorgan is internal. Technologists must decide whether to mint on public Ethereum, a licensed sidechain or an in-house ledger. Yet the strategic direction is clear: a universal dollar token, carrying the blue-chip bank’s name, is moving from concept to product. In the words of one senior developer, “the learning phase is over, now we ship.”
