Financial Giant JPMorgan To Launch USD-Backed Deposit Token on Base As Coinbase’s Layer-2 Scaler Rolls Out Support for Cardano and Litecoin

The banking titan JPMorgan is piloting a US dollar-backed permissioned deposit token on the Ethereum (ETH) layer-2 scaling solution built by the American crypto exchange Coinbase.

In a statement, Coinbase says that JPMorgan is launching the token called JMPD on Base through its blockchain business unit Kinexys.

“These are USD-denominated and backed 1:1 by deposits—combining the programmability of on-chain finance with the trust and compliance that regulated financial institutions require.”

JPMorgan is launching the token to take advantage of global on-chain payment rails. The financial behemoth is joining over 200 banks, brokers, fintechs and payment providers that tap on the exchange’s crypto-as-a-service platform for their digital asset offerings.

The bank plans to eventually allow its institutional clients to instantly and securely move money on-chain at any time for a fraction of a cent. JPMD is built exclusively for institutional clients, though, and is not available to retail or individual consumers.

Base has also rolled out support for the wrapped versions of Cardano (ADA) and Litecoin (LTC). In a post on the social media platform X, Coinbase says it holds 1:1 reserves of the assets that back cbADA and cbLTC.

“cbADA and cbLTC are now live on Coinbase. cbADA and cbLTC are ERC-20 tokens backed 1:1 by ADA and LTC held in custody by Coinbase.”