Jamie Dimon Teases Future Grocery Shopping Runs with JPMorgan’s Cryptocurrency
Jamie Dimon said JPMorgan's cryptocurrency may make its way into the hands of consumers. | Source: REUTERS / Benoit Tessier
Wall Street titan and noted bitcoin basher Jamie Dimon said that JPMorgan’s controversial cryptocurrency could one day be used for consumer payments.
Jamie Dimon: JPMorgan Cryptocurrency Could Target Consumer Use
“JPMorgan Coin could be internal, could be commercial, it could one day be consumer,” Dimon said at the bank’s annual investor day in remarks quoted by CNBC .
As CCN.com reported, JPMorgan shocked Wall Street and Main Street alike earlier this month when the major financial institution announced that it would launch its own cryptocurrency token, dubbed “JPM Coin.”
JPMorgan blockchain lead Umar Farooq said that the blockchain could be used for a variety of different purposes, including launching security tokens. However, its primary use case is cross-border settlement, as the cryptocurrency will have a face value of $1.00 and operate as a “stablecoin” for JPMorgan clients moving money across the globe.
The token initially seemed to be targeted at large corporate clients with branches and subsidiaries in multiple countries. However, Dimon – who once labeled bitcoin a “fraud” – suggested that the bank may one day push it into the hands of consumers as well.
However, the JPM Coin website says that the bank does not “have plans to make this available to individuals at this stage.”
“JPM Coin is currently a prototype that will be tested with a small number of J.P. Morgan’s institutional clients, with plans to expand the pilot program later this year. JPM Coin is currently designed for business-to-business money movement flows, and because we are still in a testing phase, we don’t have plans to make this available to individuals at this stage. That said, the cost-savings and efficiency benefits would extend to the end customers of our institutional clients.”
Consequently, you probably shouldn’t expect to see a “JPM Coin accepted here” sign at your local Whole Foods anytime soon, but Jamie-Coin could one day power your weekly grocery shopping runs.
JPM Coin a Challenge to Ripple, Apple-Goldman Sachs Credit Card
Making JPM Coin available to consumers could give JPMorgan a leg up on rival Goldman Sachs, whose fintech strategy involves partnering with Apple to launch an iPhone-native credit card.
Some analysts have also warned that JPM Coin could “obliterate” ripple (XRP), the “bank-friendly” cryptocurrency that currently trails only bitcoin and ethereum in circulating market cap. Ripple Labs, unsurprisingly, disputes that allegation.
Controversy over Jamie Dimon’s ‘Bitcoin Killer’
There is much debate about whether “cryptocurrency” is an appropriate label for the so-called “bitcoin killer” which will run on a privately-managed blockchain rather than a decentralized network, but the consensus is that the token provides a major stamp of legitimacy for the asset class nonetheless.
Jamie Dimon Image from REUTERS / Benoit Tessier
