JPMorgan Teams with Coinbase’s Base as JPM Coin Goes Public - Wall Street Meets Web3

Wall Street's sleeping giant just woke up—and it's building on-chain. JPMorgan is plugging its institutional blockchain, JPM Coin, into Coinbase's Base network, taking the bank's digital dollar public beyond its private ledger. This isn't a toe-dip; it's a strategic dive into the liquidity and developer ecosystem of a major L2.

The Mechanics of the Move

For years, JPM Coin operated as a permissioned system, settling billions between the bank's corporate clients. By porting to Base, JPMorgan bypasses the slow grind of building its own public chain infrastructure. It instantly taps into a settled, high-throughput environment for tokenized assets and payments. Think of it as a Fortune 500 company moving its treasury operations from a private server farm to AWS—but for money itself.

Why This Isn't Just Another Pilot

The signal here outweighs the technical specs. A global systemically important bank is deliberately choosing a crypto-native stack over a closed, bank-consortium blockchain. It validates the scalability and compliance readiness of public L2s for real-world, billion-dollar settlement. The move effectively makes Base a regulated corridor for institutional capital flows—a stark contrast to the 'wild west' narrative banks once peddled.

The Bottom Line: Validation with Strings Attached

This collaboration is a massive credibility injection for the entire digital asset space, proving that core banking infrastructure can migrate on-chain. Yet, watch closely—the real power stays with the gatekeeper. JPMorgan gets the innovation buzz and network effects while likely keeping firm control over the issuance and governance of its coin. A masterclass in adopting the disruptive tech without ceding an inch of the throne. After all, why disrupt yourself when you can just rent the disruptor's tools?

JPMorgan just took a step that WOULD have sounded unlikely a few years ago.

The banking giant has moved its tokenized deposit product,, off its private blockchain and onto, Coinbase’s public ethereum layer-2 network.

The reason is straightforward: institutional clients want to MOVE money, post collateral, and settle trades directly on public blockchains.

Why JPMorgan Took JPM Coin Public

JPM Coin has been around since 2019, operating on JPMorgan’s permissioned blockchain, now called Kinexys. That setup worked when on-chain activity was limited. But as more trading and settlement moved onto public networks, clients started asking for access there too.

“Right now, the only cash or cash equivalent option available on public chains are stablecoins,” said, Product Head of Deposit Tokens at JPMorgan’s Kinexys Digital Payments. “There is a demand for making payments on public chains using a bank deposit product.”

Base offered what JPMorgan was looking for: a fast, low-cost Ethereum network already used by many institutional crypto firms through Coinbase.

What JPM Coin Will Be Used for on Base

The use cases are practical. JPM Coin on Base can be used toandtied to crypto transactions.

“There are asset managers or broker-dealers who have a transaction relationship with Coinbase,” Toprak said. “They keep collateral at Coinbase, and they pay margins as well.”

Until now, firms handled this either through stablecoins or traditional bank transfers. Both come with trade-offs. Bank transfers have cutoff times. Stablecoins introduce a different risk profile that some institutions are still uneasy with.

JPM Coin offers a third option which is a bank-backed deposit, now usable on public blockchain rails.

A Clear Direction Ahead

JPM Coin remains permissioned and fully controlled by the bank.

“A payment is a payment,” Toprak said. “Cash is used as collateral today in traditional finance, so it can be used as a collateral in the onchain world as well.”

Still, the move carries weight. Coinbase executivedescribed tokenized deposits as the “,” highlighting how banks are adapting as onchain finance grows.