During JPMorgan Chase's second-quarter 2025 earnings call on July 15, CEO Jamie Dimon notably sidestepped a question regarding potential collaboration among major banks to counter the growing influence of stablecoin companies like Circle. An analyst posed a direct query, referencing the successful Zelle payment network as a precedent: "What's holding up you guys and the other banks getting together to issue something joint, similar to what you've done with Zelle and prevent these stablecoin companies like Circle $CRCL coming in and offering a more convenient solution to your customers?" Dimon's response, as stated in the tweet by Jevgenijs Kazanins, was concise: "That's a great question. And we'll leave the remain as a question."
The question highlights the increasing pressure on traditional financial institutions from digital payment innovations and stablecoins, which offer potentially faster and cheaper transaction methods compared to legacy systems. Stablecoins, like Circle's USDC, are digital currencies pegged to stable assets such as the U.S. dollar, aiming to provide a less volatile alternative within the cryptocurrency ecosystem for payments and remittances. The analogy to Zelle underscores the banking sector's historical capacity for collective action to address competitive threats from fintechs like PayPal and Block's Cash App.
Despite Dimon's non-committal answer regarding broader bank collaboration, JPMorgan has been actively exploring the stablecoin space. The bank launched JPM Coin in 2020 for institutional settlements and recently announced a pilot for JPMD, a deposit token for institutional clients on Coinbase's Base network. Dimon has previously expressed personal skepticism about the utility of stablecoins compared to traditional payments, yet acknowledges the strategic imperative for the bank to "be involved in both JPMorgan deposit coin and stablecoins to understand it, to be good at it."
Other major financial institutions, including Citi and Bank of America, are also reportedly exploring stablecoin issuance and tokenized deposits, signaling a broader industry shift. This increased interest is partly driven by evolving regulatory clarity, with the U.S. Senate having recently passed stablecoin legislation like the GENIUS Act. While some analysts project the stablecoin market could reach trillions, JPMorgan's own forecasts are more conservative, estimating a market size of $500 billion by 2028, citing limited mainstream adoption beyond crypto markets.
JPMorgan's Q2 2025 earnings demonstrated financial resilience, with a net income of $15 billion despite a 10% decrease in revenue year-over-year. The bank's strategic posture reflects a balance between cautious engagement with emerging technologies and a focus on core profitability. The unanswered question on stablecoin collaboration suggests that while individual banks are navigating the digital asset landscape, a unified front similar to Zelle for stablecoins remains a complex and potentially distant prospect.