JP Morgan Chase & Co. launched a tokenized version of a money-market fund on the Ethereum blockchain Tuesday, marking a significant strategic expansion for the bank’s digital asset division, Onyx.
The initiative represents the first time the largest U.S. bank has deployed a core asset management product directly on a public blockchain network, moving beyond the permissioned, private ledger architecture of its long-standing JPM Coin and Onyx Digital Assets platform.
Public Chain Integration
According to a press statement released by Onyx, the new offering allows qualified institutional clients to purchase and redeem tokenized shares of the JP Morgan U.S. Government Money Market Fund using the Ethereum network. The tokens are structured as ERC-20 compliant assets, designed to function within the broader decentralized finance (DeFi) ecosystem while maintaining strict “allow-list” controls to ensure Know Your Customer (KYC) and Anti-Money Laundering (AML) compliance.
The bank stated that the move is intended to facilitate 24/7 settlement and allow the tokenized shares to be used as collateral in intraday repurchase (repo) agreements, optimizing capital efficiency for corporate treasurers.
“While private networks served as our testing ground, public blockchains provide the interoperability and liquidity depth that our institutional clients increasingly demand,” said a spokesperson for Onyx by JPMorgan. “This launch bridges the gap between traditional high-quality liquid assets and the programmable utility of the Ethereum network.”
Competitive Landscape
JP Morgan’s entry into public-chain tokenization follows a similar trajectory set by BlackRock, which launched its BUIDL fund on Ethereum earlier in the cycle. Market data indicates that demand for tokenized U.S. Treasuries and money-market instruments has surged, with the total market capitalization for tokenized real-world assets (RWAs) exceeding $3 billion as of December 2025.
Unlike BlackRock’s BUIDL, which focuses primarily on liquidity management for crypto-native firms and DAOs, JPMorgan’s offering appears targeted at traditional hedge funds and asset managers seeking to modernize their collateral management systems.
Operational Details
The fund utilizes a permissioned smart contract structure. While the ledger is public, meaning transaction data is visible on Etherscan, only whitelisted wallet addresses associated with verified JP Morgan clients can hold or transfer the tokens.
This hybrid approach attempts to marry the transparency and security of public blockchains with the regulatory guardrails required for traditional banking. The bank confirmed that transfers can occur instantaneously, bypassing the T+1 settlement cycle standard in traditional equity and bond markets.
Chain Street’s Take
This is the capitulation of the “private blockchain” narrative. For years, JP Morgan championed the idea that Wall Street would build its own walled gardens (intranets) rather than use the public internet of value (Ethereum).
By deploying on mainnet, they are admitting that liquidity is sovereign and liquidity lives on public chains. This isn’t just a new product; it’s an infrastructure upgrade.
When the world’s largest bank decides that ERC-20 tokens are the superior format for collateral, the debate over “blockchain vs. crypto” is effectively over. The future of finance is public, permissioned, and on-chain.
