The Daily: JPMorgan expands JPM Coin to Ethereum for institutional clients, and more

The following article is adapted from The Block's newsletter, The Daily, which comes out on weekday afternoons.

Happy Monday! Bitcoin is trading slightly higher at around $82,000 as falling oil prices and a rebound in U.S. tech stocks help improve market sentiment.

In today's newsletter, JPMorgan expands its JPM Coin deposit token to Ethereum, Strategy buys another 267 bitcoin, SkyAI sells its entire Solana treasury, and more.

Meanwhile, Strive buys another 1,223 bitcoin for $100 million, while Bitmine adds 12,535 ETH to its treasury.

P.S. Don't forget to check out The Latent, our sister website covering AI. Get The Latent Daily here and all other The Block newsletters here. Also, follow The Block and The Latent on X for more updates.

JPMorgan expands JPM Coin to Ethereum for institutional clients

JPMorgan has brought its dollar-denominated deposit token, JPM Coin, to Ethereum, expanding its use across public blockchains for institutional clients.

• JPM Coin, also called JPMD, represents existing bank deposits on a blockchain and allows institutional clients to make onchain payments.
• The token first launched on the Base network last November. Kinexys by JPMorgan said Ethereum's "established depth of onchain liquidity and tokenized assets" made it a natural choice for the expansion.
• The bank also launched two tokenized money market funds on Ethereum, one last December and another in May.
• JPMorgan's Kinexys blockchain platform has processed more than $4 trillion in cumulative transactions, with an average daily volume of $7 billion, according to the bank.

Strategy buys another 267 bitcoin for $22 million

Michael Saylor's Strategy bought another 267 bitcoin for about $22.1 million last week, taking its total holdings to 848,517 BTC.

• The company paid an average of $82,900 per bitcoin between Oct. 12 and Oct. 18. Strategy has spent about $64 billion buying bitcoin in total, at an average purchase price of $75,446 per coin.
• Strategy funded the purchase mainly by selling around $22 million of its common shares, with another $100,000 coming from its cash reserves.
• The purchase comes after MSCI finalized new index rules that could lead to Strategy's exclusion. Saylor also recently outlined his idea for a dollar-pegged, bitcoin-backed stablecoin offering yields of 6% to 8%.

SkyAI sells entire Solana treasury, launches $201 million buyback

SkyAI, formerly Sharps Technology, has sold all its Solana holdings to fund a $201 million share and warrant buyback, after previously ranking among the largest publicly traded SOL treasury companies.

• The company held more than 2 million SOL in September but has now sold its entire treasury. It reported around $223.8 million in cash as of Oct. 16.
• SkyAI is offering $3 per share or warrant to buy back 95% of its outstanding shares. It also removed a condition requiring SOL to remain above $100, since it no longer holds any.
• Major shareholder Bastion Trading, which owns nearly 10% of SkyAI, had demanded a higher buyback price and an independent review of the SOL sales.

World launches World ID tools for banks and expands Zoom deepfake checks

World, the identity project co-founded by Sam Altman, has launched a World ID suite for banks and financial firms to help them deal with AI-driven impersonation and fraud.

• The suite combines the World ID app, World ID for Zoom and World ID for Agents, allowing users to prove they are human and let AI agents present identity proofs on their behalf.
• World ID for Zoom is now generally available after a limited beta in April. It lets people verify that others on a Zoom call are real humans rather than deepfakes.
• World named OpenExchange, Bain Capital, VanEck Funds and Outtake as design partners, but did not identify any bank already using the product or disclose pricing.

Mastercard unveils stablecoin security tool to check fraud and sanctions risks

Mastercard has introduced Stablecoin Security, a new service that helps banks check stablecoin payments for fraud, scams, and sanctions risks before funds move onchain.

• The tool looks at payment history, where funds came from and possible links to financial crime, then gives banks a risk score through an API that can work with their existing systems.
• Borderless.xyz and Keyrails are its first partners. Mastercard plans to launch the service first in North America, with commercial availability expected worldwide in 2027.

In the next 24 hours

• September housing starts and pending home sales data are due Tuesday.
• Eurozone August current account and construction output data, along with October ZEW economic sentiment figures, are due Tuesday.
• LayerZero (ZRO), Kaito (KAITO), and Bedrock (BR) are among the token unlocks scheduled for Tuesday.

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