JPMorgan made JPM Coin, a token representing dollar deposits at the bank, available on Ethereum's main network for institutional clients. Until now the token ran on Base, Coinbase's layer-2 network, and on the bank's private Kinexys network. The bank says it chose Ethereum for its liquidity and existing institutional use. The aims are payments, trade settlement and collateral for tokenised assets.
What it means: The move matters both symbolically and in practice. The largest US bank is putting bank money, meaning deposits covered by the banking framework, on a public blockchain where stablecoins already operate. The difference from a stablecoin is substantial: the token is not a claim on an issuer's reserve but a deposit at the bank itself, with all the supervision that implies. Banks see stablecoins as a threat to their deposits and are responding with their own digital products. Choosing several networks shows that no single blockchain will dominate and that institutional clients want to move money where their other assets already sit. In Europe, the ECB is examining how transactions on public or private blockchains can settle in central bank money, while several European banks are preparing euro digital products. For Greek banks the issue is not immediate, but the trend is clear. Tokenised deposits and bonds will become part of market infrastructure in the coming years.
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