Jamie Dimon Says JPMorgan Plans to Get More Involved in Stablecoins

• JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon said Tuesday that the bank plans to get more involved with stablecoins.

• Mastercard and Citi also discussed stablecoins in calls with analysts this week.

• The focus on stablecoins comes amid hopes the House of Representatives could soon vote on a bill allowing private companies to issue corporate stablecoins, though it and other crypto-related bills failed to clear a procedural hurdle on Tuesday.

JPMorgan Chase (JPM) CEO Jamie Dimon said the bank is planning to get more involved with stablecoins—crypto assets with a value pegged to another currency or financial asset such as the U.S. dollar.

“We’re going to be involved in both JPMorgan deposit coin and stablecoins to understand it, to be good at it,” Dimon said during the bank’s second-quarter earnings call, according to a transcript from AlphaSense. The deposit coin Dimon referred to is JPMD, a stablecoin-like token currently available only to the bank’s clients.

“I don’t know why you’d want a stablecoin as opposed to just payment,” Dimon said, but added that fintech companies “are trying to figure out a way to create bank accounts and get the payment systems and rewards programs, and we have to be cognizant of that. The way to be cognizant is to be involved.”

Dimon’s comments come amid hopes the House of Representatives could soon vote on the GENIUS Act, which would establish a framework for private companies to issue stablecoins, though it and other cryptocurrency-related bills failed to clear a procedural hurdle on Tuesday.

Walmart (WMT) and Amazon (AMZN) are among the companies reportedly considering launching their own stablecoins, which could potentially reduce the billions of dollars the retail titans pay in credit transaction fees.

Citigroup (C) CEO Jane Fraser told analysts Tuesday that the bank also has stablecoin plans, and is “looking at the issuance of a Citi stablecoin,” according to a transcript provided by AlphaSense.

“This is a good opportunity for us,” said Fraser, suggesting it could help the bank gain new clients.

Executives at Mastercard (MA), which also has stablecoin initiatives, cautioned earlier this week that it could be a while before stablecoins become a viable everyday payment tool, however.

“While the technology powering stablecoins holds tremendous promise, high speed, 24/7 availability, low costs, programmability, immutability, etc., those attributes alone do not suffice to turn stablecoins into a payment tool,” Mastercard Chief Product Officer Jorn Lambert said on a call with analysts Monday, according to a transcript provided by AlphaSense.