What is JPM Coin?

JPM Coin went live last week when it was used by a large unnamed JP Morgan tech client to send payments around the world. Woohoo!

Why am I so excited about the JPM Coin?

A 150-year-old bank with a $3tr balance sheet that processes $6tr worth of payments every single day is using blockchain technology to power its payment rails. If ever there was proof that blockchain is moving from the shadows to the mainstream, this is it. There couldn’t be a better candidate endorsing this technology.

Cryptocurrencies have been this mysterious math-cloaked asset that one buys hoping its value will go up as more people start believing in the fiction (just like they believe in the fiction that US Dollar has value or diamonds have value). JPM Coin is a real-world use case of blockchain technology like precision engineering is a real-world use case for diamonds.

Let us start by clarifying what JPM Coin is not:

* It is not a regular cryptocurrency. Actually, it isn’t a cryptocurrency at all.
* It has certain features of a stablecoin but it isn’t that either. (We explain in detail later)
* It is not an investment asset. One doesn’t buy it hoping its value will climb.
* It is not available to retail individuals. You and I can’t buy it.