From JPM Coin to USDC, what are the stablecoins that financial giants are scrambling for?

Amid the surge in digital assets, stablecoins have leapt from a marginal role in the crypto market to become a core bridge connecting traditional finance and the digital future. With Wall Street giants entering the market, we're no longer witnessing small-scale financial experiments but a strategic battle for position in the future of payments, settlement, and even the global financial landscape. From JPMorgan Chase's JPM Coin, to payment giant PayPal's full embrace of USDC, to BlackRock's quiet deployment, each move heralds the arrival of a new era. Today, we'll delve into why these financial giants are collectively captivated by stablecoins, their strategic rationale, application scenarios, and future trends.

Why are financial giants scrambling for it?

• Cross-border payments arrive in seconds: traditionally it took days, now it’s done in minutes!

• Transaction fees plummet: With fewer intermediaries, costs drop by 80%!

• A stepping stone to digital finance: paving the way for future digital currency and blockchain ecology

• User stickiness MAX: One-stop solution for payment + investment + cross-border transactions

JPM Coin:

The “internal settlement tool” of banking giants

As the first bank on Wall Street to take the plunge, JPMorgan Chase’s JPM Since its launch in 2019, JPM Coin has had a clear positioning: an internal settlement network designed specifically to serve enterprise-level clients. JPM Coin is strictly pegged 1:1 to the US dollar and operates on its private Onyx blockchain network. It is not a publicly issued cryptocurrency, but rather a "digital dollar" provided by JPMorgan Chase to its corporate clients for instant payments and settlements worldwide. The success of JPM Coin lies not only in reducing cross-border settlement costs but, more importantly, in providing JPMorgan Chase with an excellent platform to test the practical potential of a "digital dollar" and laying a solid foundation for future integration into the CBDC network.

PayPal & USDC:The "Retail Payment Revolution" of Tech Giants

If JPM Coin represents the "elite route" of banks, then PayPal's embrace of USDC has sounded the clarion call for stablecoins to enter mass retail payments.

PayPal did not issue its own stablecoin, but chose to work closely with USDC, which is issued by Circle and has a very high market credibility. Users can buy, sell, hold, and use USDC for payments directly within PayPal and its Venmo app. With a user base exceeding 400 million, PayPal's support for USDC has significantly boosted the adoption and adoption of stablecoins. This move not only solidifies PayPal's leading position in digital payments but also sets a precedent for how technology companies can safely and compliantly enter the stablecoin market.

BlackRock:The "Efficiency Optimizer" of the Asset Management Giant

As the world's largest asset management company, BlackRock has a broader perspective. It sees stablecoins as a key tool for optimizing financial market infrastructure and improving asset management efficiency.

In traditional securities trading, clearing and settlement (T+2) typically takes two days. By using tokenized cash or securities, transactions can be settled atomically, with cash exchanged for goods, significantly reducing counterparty risk and tied up funds in transit. For BlackRock, which manages trillions of dollars in assets, this means exponential improvements in efficiency and security. Citi and Standard Chartered are also actively conducting internal stablecoin experiments, with the goal of exploring broader enterprise-level applications and future interoperability with CBDCs. These banks' projects, such as Citi's "Citi Token Services," focus on corporate cross-border payments, trade financing, and digital asset clearing. They are testing more complex financial scenarios within their internal networks by simulating the issuance of stablecoins pegged to multiple fiat currencies, such as automated supply chain financing driven by smart contracts. The ultimate goal of these experiments is to establish a global digital settlement network that can seamlessly connect to central bank digital currencies. When the CBDC era arrives, these banks, with their mature technology and operational experience, will become the core hubs connecting public infrastructure and commercial applications. Regulatory Challenges: Stablecoins, especially those targeting retail users, face extremely strict financial regulation. Meta's Diem (formerly Libra) project was ultimately shelved due to a joint crackdown by global regulators, a profound lesson learned. Trust and Security: The stability of stablecoins comes from the transparency and reliability of their anchored assets. Any doubts about reserve assets could trigger a crisis of trust. Furthermore, as a system operating 24/7, its technical security and vulnerability mitigation are crucial.

CoreConclusion

Stablecoins have evolved from a "crypto-native" concept into a core pillar of the digital strategies of financial giants. Banks are leveraging them to reshape the underlying logic of corporate settlements, reducing costs and increasing efficiency. Technology companies hope to create a borderless retail payment ecosystem and target hundreds of millions of users. Investment institutions are focused on optimizing transaction and settlement efficiency across the entire financial market.