Wall Street is finally stepping onto the same rails as DeFi, as seen with JPMorgan Chase & Co. beginning to roll out its JPM Coin deposit token on Coinbase’s Base network.
This enables institutional clients to settle transactions instantly and 24/7, marking a major expansion of traditional banking into public blockchain infrastructure.
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Deposit Tokens Meet Public Blockchain
JPM Coin, representing dollar deposits held at the bank, allows clients to send and receive funds on Base chain, a public, Ethereum-compatible network.
Citing Naveen Mallela, global co-head of JPMorgan’s blockchain division Kinexys, Bloomberg reported that deposit tokens are a compelling alternative to stablecoins, offering yield-bearing capabilities directly tied to customer deposits.
Unlike traditional stablecoins, which rarely pass on interest earned from reserve assets, JPM Coin can pay holders interest. This makes it attractive for institutions, including crypto trading firms that use stablecoins for collateral or liquidity management.
JPMorgan’s rollout follows trials involving Mastercard, Coinbase, and B2C2. The bank plans to extend access to clients of its clients and add other currency versions, pending regulatory approval. Mallela confirmed the trademark of “JPME” for a potential euro-denominated token.
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Coinbase’s Base Network as The Common Rail
The launch leverages Base, Coinbase’s Layer 2 solution that has already powered its $1 billion on-chain Bitcoin-backed loan book. Through Base, Coinbase allows users to borrow USDC against Bitcoin without selling BTC, integrating protocols like Morpho to streamline collateralized lending.
By hosting both JPM Coin and DeFi-native services, Base is now the first public blockchain to support a convergence of regulated banking tokens and permissionless financial applications. This synergy creates a unified infrastructure that allows TradFi and DeFi to coexist.
This alignment also highlights a broader trend. Banks such as JPMorgan, Citigroup, and Deutsche Bank are increasingly experimenting with blockchain to facilitate faster, cheaper, and more accessible payments beyond traditional business hours.
BeInCrypto reported Citigroup’s foray into the stablecoin race after JPMorgan. The bank is also weighing a custody role for stablecoin and crypto ETF collateral. Likewise, Deutsche Bank recently developed a layer-2 to overcome blockchain compliance challenges.
Meanwhile, Coinbase continues to expand its DeFi ecosystem, offering Bitcoin-backed loans, on-chain USDC lending, and multi-protocol integrations, demonstrating that public blockchain infrastructure can handle institutional-scale financial activity.
The JPM Coin launch on Base is a proofpoint that regulated finance and DeFi can operate on the same network. Banks gain speed, transparency, and efficiency, while protocols like Coinbase can onboard institutional flows without compromising decentralization.
With JPMorgan and Coinbase now sharing rails on Base, the line between TradFi and DeFi is blurring. Expect multi-currency deposit tokens, institutional adoption of public blockchains, and increasingly seamless interaction between DeFi lending and traditional banking.
Source: https://beincrypto.com/jpmorgan-jpmd-base-network-defi/
