JPMorgan, Bank of America, Citigroup, and Wells Fargo explore joint stablecoin project to challenge digital asset platforms: WSJ

America’s biggest banks are evaluating a collaborative stablecoin initiative to compete with digital asset platforms that are rapidly gaining market share, The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday.

Now in early exploration, the effort brings together entities co-owned by JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Citigroup, Wells Fargo, and other leading American banks, sources with knowledge of the matter told the Journal.

Those entities are Early Warning Services (EWS), which operates the peer-to-peer payment network Zelle, and The Clearing House (TCH), which handles real-time payments between banks.

EWS is jointly owned by seven major US banks, including JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, and Wells Fargo. TCH, meanwhile, is owned by two dozen of the world’s largest banks, also including those three.

The future of the joint stablecoin project rests on regulatory clarity and market appetite. As of now, the most remarkable legislative effort in this space is the GENIUS Act, which aims to establish a framework for stablecoin issuance by both banks and nonbanks.

The Act, short for the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for US Stablecoins Act, just passed a critical procedural vote earlier this week and is currently in the Senate amendment phase. A full floor vote for the proposed legislation is expected to arrive in the coming weeks.

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If enacted, the GENIUS Act will establish a legal framework for issuing stablecoins in the US, encouraging Wall Street investment in the crypto sector.

Early moves

JPMorgan Chase, the largest US bank by assets, is best known for its JPM Coin, which, while limited to use within JPMorgan’s network, demonstrates the bank’s early and proactive embrace of blockchain technology and digital assets to modernize traditional banking processes.

Wells Fargo has also developed and piloted a dollar-linked stablecoin called Wells Fargo Digital Cash, designed for internal settlement and cross-border payments within the bank’s global network.

Bank of America has yet to issue a stablecoin, but CEO Brian Moynihan has publicly expressed the bank’s readiness to do so.

Speaking at the Economic Club of Washington in February, Moynihan noted the bank’s capability to create a fully dollar-backed stablecoin, adding that such a move would ultimately depend on whether regulation permits it.

Crypto firms pursue bank charters

While major US banks are cautiously exploring stablecoin initiatives of their own, crypto-native firms like Circle, BitGo, Coinbase, and Paxos are pursuing bank-like status, according to an April report from The Wall Street Journal.

After the collapse of FTX and the failure of crypto-friendly institutions like Silvergate and Signature Bank, traditional finance largely retreated from the crypto sector. Regulatory scrutiny intensified, and access to essential banking services evaporated for many digital asset firms.

But with President Trump back in office and pledging to make the nation a “Bitcoin superpower,” the political environment has shifted, and that shift is creating new opportunities for crypto firms seeking to cement their role in the US financial system.

Some firms are seeking full-scale charters, while others are pursuing limited-purpose licenses tailored specifically for stablecoin issuance. BitGo, for example, is reportedly nearing a charter application and is also safeguarding reserves for USD1, a stablecoin project from World Liberty Financial, the Trump family’s crypto venture.

Anchorage Digital remains the only crypto firm to have obtained a federal bank charter, which it secured in 2021. CEO Nathan McCauley has said the process required tens of millions of dollars in compliance investment and brought regulatory scrutiny.