JPMorgan accepts bitcoin as collateral for loans, signaling Wall Street giants' embrace of RWA and the incoming wave of crypto market adoption
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JPMorgan accepts bitcoin as collateral for loans, signaling Wall Street giants' embrace of RWA and the incoming wave of crypto market adoption
A comprehensive overview of how Wall Street financial giants such as JPMorgan, Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, UBS, Deutsche Bank are racing to capture the RWA and crypto赛道.
Navigating Web3 tides with focused insightsBy: Liang Yu
Edited by: Zhao Yidan
"It's like, I think you shouldn't smoke, but I defend your right to smoke. Now I defend your right to buy Bitcoin—go ahead." So said Jamie Dimon, CEO of JPMorgan Chase, in a recent public statement. These remarks mark a major shift in stance for the Wall Street titan, who once labeled Bitcoin a "fraud."
Almost simultaneously, JPMorgan is actively preparing a groundbreaking service: allowing clients to use cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum as collateral for loans, potentially launching as early as 2026. This move not only represents a significant transformation for traditional banking, but also aligns with the recent signing of a landmark U.S. legislation—the GENIUS Act (National Stablecoin Innovation and Regulation Act). With regulatory frameworks now in place, a digital asset revolution led by Wall Street giants is unfolding at full scale.
Regulatory Breakthrough: Stablecoin Legalization Ushers in a New Era of Digital Assets
In July 2025, U.S. financial regulation reached a historic milestone. President Trump officially signed the GENIUS Act, establishing the first federal-level regulatory framework for stablecoins in the United States.
This act, together with the CLARITY Act currently under review, marks a "regulatory thaw" in U.S. digital asset oversight, shifting market focus from policy battles to actual infrastructure development.
In its latest research report, Bank of America Merrill Lynch predicts that within the next two to three years, stablecoins will have a "clearly visible" disruptive impact on traditional banks' deposit base and payment systems.
The strategic significance of the act goes far beyond the technical level. The U.S. Treasury Secretary explicitly stated that the act will stimulate demand for U.S. Treasuries, helping alleviate current pressures on U.S. debt. Estimates suggest that if the stablecoin market grows to $2 trillion, issuers would need to hold approximately $1.8 trillion in U.S. Treasuries, potentially further lowering Treasury yields.
"Regulatory thaw has opened the door for banks to innovate in digital assets," commented a Wall Street analyst. "Whoever gains first-mover advantage in stablecoins and RWA will dominate the next phase of financial competition."
JPMorgan: From Skeptic to Leader in Digital Assets
JPMorgan's transformation has been dramatic. Under Dimon's leadership, this Wall Street giant was once known for its critical stance toward cryptocurrencies. Today, it is becoming a model for traditional financial institutions embracing digital assets.
During a recent earnings call, when asked about cryptocurrency payment technology, Dimon said: "We'll be involved in both JPMorgan's deposit tokens and stablecoins—to understand it and get good at it." This pragmatic attitude reflects the broader banking industry’s strategic adjustment in the face of the digital asset wave.
JPMorgan has already launched JPMD, the first tokenized deposit product in U.S. banking, for institutional clients, and is actively exploring crypto-backed lending. According to insiders, the plan would allow customers to use digital assets such as Bitcoin and Ethereum as collateral, possibly launching as early as 2026.
Given that Basel III requires a 1250% risk weight for direct cryptocurrency exposure, JPMorgan will likely rely on external custodians such as Coinbase to handle defaulted collateral. This cooperative model offers new insights into the integration of traditional finance with the crypto ecosystem.
RWA Race: Wall Street Giants Compete in Tokenization
While markets focus on stablecoins and crypto-backed loans, a quiet race around tokenizing real-world assets (RWA) is already underway on Wall Street.
Morgan Stanley: Tokenizing Private Wealth Management Products
In June 2025, Morgan Stanley launched the RWA token "HL" globally via Volcano Exchange (VEX), a digital trading platform it invested in. Anchored to future revenue rights from its top-tier private banking products, the token had an issuance size of $20 million (200 million tokens), making high-barrier private banking services divisible and tradable. "HL" marks the first time a top-tier Wall Street investment bank has directly put revenue rights from its core exclusive services for high-net-worth clients onto a blockchain, signaling a shift from infrastructure experimentation to core business model innovation, aiming to expand the boundaries of wealth management clientele. This initiative not only reflects the digital transformation of high-net-worth wealth management but also shows how financial institutions are deepening their engagement with asset tokenization—from peripheral applications to core business innovation.
First, Morgan Stanley’s "HL" tokenization experiment directly converts future revenue rights from premium private banking products into digital assets. This innovation enables divisibility and tradability of high-threshold wealth management services, breaking through the traditionally singular and closed structure of private banking. This tokenization model not only enhances asset liquidity but also effectively lowers entry barriers, potentially broadening the client base for wealth management. In this way, Morgan Stanley can maintain exclusivity for high-net-worth clients while leveraging blockchain technology to improve transparency and traceability, thereby strengthening client trust.
From an industry-wide perspective, this case indicates that RWA tokenization is transitioning from infrastructure testing to core business model innovation. By tokenizing revenue rights from its most valuable services, Morgan Stanley is gradually driving comprehensive digital asset strategies within traditional financial institutions. More importantly, as demand for transparency, liquidity, and efficiency grows, RWA tokenization is becoming a key competitive advantage in future wealth management. Such innovations make wealth management services more flexible and customizable, opening new growth opportunities for global private banking.
Goldman Sachs: Spin-off of Digital Asset Platform and Multi-Asset Expansion
Mathew McDermott, head of Goldman Sachs’ digital assets division, announced at the TOKEN2049 conference in Dubai that the bank plans to launch 24/7 trading for tokenized U.S. Treasuries and money market fund shares. As an operator of crypto derivatives desks, Goldman also revealed plans to initiate three tokenization projects in 2025, including a U.S. fund tokenization project and a euro-denominated digital bond.
This strategic move highlights Goldman Sachs’ aggressive expansion in the RWA tokenization space, particularly in enhancing asset liquidity and trading efficiency. By tokenizing traditional financial assets and offering round-the-clock trading, Goldman breaks free from traditional market time constraints and provides global investors with more flexible asset allocation options.
Additionally, Goldman is considering spinning off its digital asset platform (GS DAP) into a standalone entity to improve service efficiency and market liquidity. This step signifies a deeper strategic commitment to digital assets, aiming to better meet institutional client needs through a more agile operating model and strengthen its market competitiveness. These initiatives reinforce Goldman’s leadership in digital asset innovation and provide strong support for the digital transformation of global capital markets.
Swiss Financial System: Dual Approach by Central Bank and Banks
Switzerland’s innovations in RWA tokenization are highly significant. The Swiss National Bank (SNB) has extended its pilot program for settling tokenized assets and plans to integrate it into the Real-Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) system. This move not only enhances the security of tokenized assets but also improves interoperability with traditional payment systems, laying the foundation for smooth circulation of tokenized assets within the global financial system. By using central bank money settlement as the "gold standard," the SNB provides a compliance benchmark for global RWA tokenization and ensures digital assets can interoperate with traditional assets across broader financial systems.
Meanwhile, UBS Group is actively participating in Hong Kong Monetary Authority’s "Evergreen Project," issuing tokenized green bonds using a "hybrid model." This innovation reduces technical barriers and advances the blockchain application of sustainable finance, injecting new vitality into global green financial markets. Switzerland’s series of initiatives demonstrate how traditional finance, backed by central bank support and clear regulatory frameworks, can drive digital transformation of assets. Through these efforts, Switzerland offers valuable experience to other countries in terms of regulatory compatibility and infrastructure development in global RWA tokenization, contributing to the digital transformation of the global financial system.
Citigroup: Experimenting with Tokenized Private Equity Funds
In July 2025, Citigroup partnered with WisdomTree and Wellington Management to launch an end-to-end tokenization trial for private equity funds on Avalanche Spruce, a subnet designed specifically for financial institutions. The trial covers token transfers, secondary trading, and collateral lending, aiming to verify the potential for automated compliance and enhance liquidity in private assets. This move follows Citi’s 2024 launch of "Citi Token Services" (deposit tokenization) and represents a critical step toward expanding into higher-value, more complex asset classes like private equity—a continuation of its strategy to build institutional-grade RWA infrastructure.
Citi’s trial of private equity fund tokenization on the Avalanche Evergreen subnet reveals a new trend among traditional financial institutions in RWA deployment: seeking balance between "compliance" and "on-chain efficiency." Facing long-standing issues of low liquidity and poor transparency in private assets, Citi leverages a permissioned chain architecture to bypass KYC/AML risks associated with public chains, while preserving blockchain advantages such as automated clearing and asset composability. This "semi-open, strongly isolated" experimental model is becoming the mainstream choice for traditional financial institutions. More importantly, Citi has shifted "asset tokenization" from peripheral custody to core business restructuring, marking that RWA tokenization competition is moving beyond "whether it can be done" to "who can go deeper and faster."
Deutsche Bank: Stablecoins and Tokenized Deposits
In June 2025, Deutsche Bank announced it is actively evaluating the issuance of a euro stablecoin and developing a tokenized deposit system, aiming to optimize payment efficiency and significantly reduce cross-border settlement costs. Strategically, it may issue independently or pursue consortium collaboration. Under the compliant framework provided by the EU’s Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA), Deutsche Bank’s move is not just about efficiency—it is a strategic effort to claim influence over Europe’s digital financial infrastructure within the global stablecoin landscape, currently dominated by the U.S. dollar.
This initiative is not merely a technological innovation aimed at improving efficiency and cutting cross-border settlement costs; it is a far-reaching strategic maneuver to gain dominance over the eurozone’s digital financial infrastructure.
In a global stablecoin market dominated by the U.S. dollar, the issuance of a euro stablecoin reflects Deutsche Bank’s ambition for greater influence in the eurozone’s digital finance arena. By issuing a euro stablecoin, Deutsche Bank can enhance its competitiveness in cross-border payments and settlements and position itself at the forefront of Europe’s financial digital transformation. Successful implementation of this strategy could effectively promote the circulation of the euro in the digital financial ecosystem and strengthen the eurozone’s influence in the global financial system.
Deutsche Bank’s strategy is built upon the compliance assurance offered by the MiCA regulatory framework, promoting deep integration between financial asset tokenization and digital asset infrastructure. By developing a tokenized deposit system, Deutsche Bank not only brings digital solutions to traditional deposits but also paves the way for large-scale asset tokenization. This transformation can enhance asset liquidity, reduce cross-border settlement costs, and strengthen international cooperation among financial institutions. Deutsche Bank’s strategic positioning demonstrates how traditional financial institutions are leveraging digital asset technologies to upgrade the global payment system and signals that RWA tokenization will become one of the core competitive strengths in the future digital asset landscape.
Challenges and Outlook: At the Crossroads of Digital Asset Integration
Despite growing enthusiasm, traditional banks still face multiple challenges in embracing digital assets. Interoperability, cost barriers, and customer demand remain the most pressing issues.
Driven by the need for interoperability and a large existing customer base, banks appear more inclined to form alliances to roll out stablecoin solutions. A Bank of America Merrill Lynch report notes that although banks are actively positioning themselves, current customer interest in stablecoins remains "muted." However, nearly all banks say they are closely monitoring developments and are ready to act quickly should customer demand accelerate.
Cross-border payments are seen as the most promising breakthrough area. Gunjan Kedia, CEO of U.S. Bank, pointed out that while stablecoins may intensify competition in cash management services, their impact on card and merchant acquiring businesses is minimal.
Looking ahead, with the implementation of the GENIUS Act and the advancement of the CLARITY Act, the integration of digital assets and traditional finance will accelerate. As JPMorgan takes the first step in crypto-backed lending, Citi deepens its private equity tokenization, and Deutsche Bank explores fund tokenization, the fusion of traditional finance and digital assets has become irreversible.
The future of finance is quietly being built on blockchains. When even the most conservative banking giants on Wall Street embrace digital assets, and when Dimon—who once called Bitcoin a "scam"—now defends people's right to buy it, a profound transformation of the financial system has already begun.
The outcome of this transformation will determine who holds financial power in the digital economy era.
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