DeFi: JP Morgan and Block/Cash App roll out stablecoins on Base & Solana
Focus on traction
GM Fintech Futurists,
Today we highlight the following:
DIGITAL ASSETS: Fintech and Banks Converge On-Chain
ANALYSIS: Inside the x402 Startup Gold Rush
CURATED UPDATES: Financial Institutions and Adoption; DeFi and Digital Assets; Blockchain Protocols; NFTs, DAOs and the Metaverse
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DIGITAL ASSETS: Fintech and Banks Converge On-Chain
Bitcoin may have dipped below $90K and the market are panicking, but one thing is growing for sure.
The digital dollar.
This week, we saw both JP Morgan and Block / Cash App move forward with stablecoin commercialization.
JP Morgan is now issuing a U.S. dollar deposit token (‘JPM Coin’) on Base. The token represents a direct claim on deposits held at the bank, preserving the regulatory and balance-sheet treatment of traditional accounts while enabling near-instant, anytime settlement between institutional clients.
Unlike stablecoins, which rely on external issuers and reserve structures, this model keeps the liability within the banking system, offering clients a digital instrument with familiar risk characteristics but faster settlement finality.
Early participants include B2C2, Coinbase, and Mastercard. The rollout is still limited to institutional clients, but the launch on Base marks a clear shift from JPMorgan’s previously controlled, permissioned environments toward public networks that offer better interoperability and where liquidity increasingly sits.
JPM is a consistent and early innovator around blockchains, from their Quorum Ethereum project, to Onyx/Kinexis as the internal fintech blockchain business unit that has driven increasing adoption. This is a really cool development.
On the consumer side, Cash App, operated by Block, is preparing to introduce support for USDC transfers on the Solana blockchain, with availability expected in early 2026. Cash App users will be able to use wallet addresses to send and receive on Solana.
Importantly, the implementation is chain and coin-agnostic, so we can expect to see many more chains being added in the near future. Cash App v2 is even being built on Bitcoin, and merchants can choose to accept that as a currency — even if the user holds no Bitcoin, Cash App will convert the currency into whatever the merchant wants to hold.
By embedding stablecoin settlement into an app with tens of millions of active users, Cash App is effectively normalising public chain payment infrastructure within mainstream fintech. The structure still utilises a fiat wrapper from a UI perspective and shifts settlement over to programmable, always-on rails without requiring users to manage crypto exposure directly.
This is no surprise given the growth of stablecoins. Total stablecoins in circulation now exceed $300B, and total transaction volumes are up 100%+ from the year before at $46T. That is equivalent to 3x Visa’s volume over the same time period.
Both approaches move real economic flows closer to public chain settlement.
JPM spent years developing a permissioned blockchain. Now, public networks have matured to a point where they offer the speed, cost efficiency, and security needed for institutional settlement. A shared public rail also avoids the fragmentation that comes with each institution maintaining its own private ledger, while deposit tokens preserve the regulatory treatment of traditional bank money.
Cash App’s adoption of stablecoin payments follows the same logic. In different segments of the market, the direction of travel is similar — public blockchains are becoming the default rail for moving digital dollars.
We would not have expected to see “real dollars” on public chains at scale yet, but the proof is in the pudding. The digital dollar product is going to outperform embedded finance, and this is just the start.
⭐Related Articles⭐:
Analysis: Inside the x402 Startup Gold Rush
We analyze the current correction across digital assets, where Bitcoin retests $100K and Ether drops 30%, driving total crypto market capitalization down to $3.4T.
The pullback reflects exhaustion after a strong year of IPO and DAT activity, totaling roughly $35B in new issuance, and a normalization of DAT valuations from 2–5x mNAV to around 1x. Structural stress amplified volatility — including the October 10 flash crash, $5B in Ethena outflows, and $190MM in DeFi losses from Balancer and Stream Finance.
Curated Updates
Here are the rest of the updates hitting our radar.
Financial Institutions and Adoption
⭐ Visa leans into AI-enabled payments and stablecoins to stay ahead of the game in Asia - Fortune
BlackRock’s $2.5 billion tokenized money market fund gets boost with Binance tie-up - Fortune
Cboe to launch perpetual-style bitcoin and ether futures on Dec. 15 - The Block
Investing app Public acquires crypto IRA business for $65 million - Fortune
DeFi and Digital Assets
Singapore Exchange to launch bitcoin and ether perpetual futures - Reuters
Tether eyes €1bn funding deal with AI robotics start-up Neura - FT
Blockchain Protocols
⭐ Monad to raise $188m in Coinbase’s first public token sale - DLNews
Bitcoin’s mined supply crosses 95% of 21 million cap with more than a century of issuance left - The Block
Avalanche blockchain eyes new upgrade as investors withdraw $1.4bn from DeFi sector - DLNews
Cardano’s business arm partners with Wirex to launch crypto debit card - DLNews
NFTs, DAOs and the Metaverse
⭐ Aave Labs unveils new savings app offering up to 9% returns on deposits - DLNews
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Fraud evolves faster than rules. Real protection isn’t just catching bad actors it’s designing systems that see patterns, respect good users, and adapt as quickly as the threats themselves.
Just dropped a new essay here on Substack
The money systems never met you and that's the problem
https://substack.com/@jacobw25/note/p-181704646?utm_source=notes-share-action&utm_medium=web