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JPMorgan puts its dollar deposit token on Ethereum

JPMorgan has put its dollar deposit token on Ethereum for institutional clients, adding a public network for onchain payments and digital asset settlement.

Merkle Street Newsroom#5313552 min read

JPMorgan puts its dollar deposit token on Ethereum

JPMorgan has made JPM Coin, a token representing dollar deposits at the bank, available to institutional clients on Ethereum, adding another public network for moving bank money alongside digital assets. The bank said the token was deployed on Ethereum’s mainnet on Oct. 19, according to CoinDesk’s report on the launch.

The sequence starts with a dollar deposit at JPMorgan. The bank represents that deposit with JPM Coin, then lets approved institutional clients transfer the token between wallets on a blockchain. The token is still a claim on a bank deposit; Ethereum provides the shared network on which eligible clients can move it. A simple analogy: the deposit is the money in the account, and the token is a digital instruction for moving its value.

How does an Ethereum transfer get recorded?

A client initiates a transaction from an Ethereum account and signs it with the account’s key. The transaction is broadcast to the network. An Ethereum validator checks it and includes it in a block, which updates the network’s record of the transfer. Ethereum.org’s transaction guide describes that process. JPMorgan has not disclosed in the announcement the specific contract or wallet setup used for JPM Coin transfers on Ethereum.

That public record is the practical change: clients can transfer the deposit token on Ethereum rather than relying only on the bank’s private Kinexys network or Base, the Ethereum layer-2 network where JPM Coin was already available. JPMorgan said the token supports peer-to-peer transfers among institutional clients in the Ethereum Virtual Machine ecosystem, including Ethereum and Base.

Who can use JPM Coin on Ethereum?

The launch is for JPMorgan’s institutional clients. It does not make the token a general-purpose coin for anyone to buy or send. The bank said Ethereum gives clients another network for moving money alongside tokenized assets and counterparties they already use. Kinexys head Emma Landriault told Bloomberg that the expansion is meant to give clients more choice across networks.

That choice matters for firms that need cash to move with a blockchain-based trade. JPMorgan says JPM Coin can support payments and settlement for digital-asset transactions. CoinDesk reported that the bank also sees uses in settling trades and backing tokenized assets. The network can record the token transfer; the deposit claim itself remains with JPMorgan.

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