JPMorgan Chase & Co

US financial giant JPMorgan Chase has been considering the possibility of issuing its own stablecoin, according to a Wall Street Journal (WSJ) report dated August 26. A company spokesperson told WSJ that there are no current plans to issue one, but that the firm would consider all future options in response to customer demand and changes in the regulatory environment. JPMorgan already offers institutional investors JPM Coin, a tokenized deposit that handles US dollar deposits on the blockchain, and supports 24/7 transfers and payments on Ethereum's layer-2 network, Base. JPM Coin is not a stablecoin but a deposit token that digitizes the bank's deposits. The banking industry has traditionally focused more on tokenized deposits than stablecoins, but more than a dozen financial institutions, including Bank of America, Wells Fargo, and Santander, are advancing a global stablecoin initiative, starting with US dollar-denominated offerings and considering expansion into the euro and other G7 currencies, with a focus on corporate use cases tailored to different regions.

Circle Internet Group shares fell 4% Wednesday after a Wall Street Journal report revealed that banks are now considering launching their own stablecoins, reversing their previous opposition. The report said banks large and small have warmed to the idea, while nonbank giants like Visa, BlackRock, Google, and DoorDash have already entered the stablecoin market, which is dominated by Tether and Circle. JPMorgan Chase recently evaluated launching its own stablecoin, though a spokeswoman said the bank has no plans to issue one but would evaluate options based on customer demand and regulatory developments. Additionally, a group of more than a dozen financial institutions, including Bank of America, Wells Fargo, and Santander, is advancing a global stablecoin venture. Banks had previously lobbied against crypto firms offering stablecoins and instead launched a tokenized deposit system, but now they are considering whether both products are needed, with some executives worried stablecoins could encroach on their businesses.

Data center deals pushed July commercial real estate transaction volume to its highest level since 2005, with total sales reaching $74.4 billion, according to MSCI's monthly Capital Trends report. BlackRock's acquisition of Aligned Data Centers and other data center transactions accounted for $33.8 billion of that total, while overall volume rose 78% year-over-year but only 1% excluding data centers. J.P. Morgan analysts noted that typical revisions add roughly 30% to monthly figures, pointing to strong momentum into the third quarter, though they flagged the 10-year Treasury yield above 4.5% as a concern. Data center volume surged 1,911% and portfolio deals rose 376%, while industrial was flat at $9 billion, apartments fell 16%, and retail dropped 13%. Office sales in urban cores jumped 48% to $2.2 billion, suburban offices rose 28% to $5.5 billion, hotels gained 61%, and senior housing increased 55%, with the average cap rate at 6.89%, up six basis points from June.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has sent subpoenas to major Wall Street banks seeking information about their dealings with Situational Awareness, the AI-focused hedge fund that nearly collapsed in late July. The subpoenas requested details on when the fund executed trades and how it communicated with lenders about borrowed capital, and banks were told to retain all records concerning the fund. Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup, and Bank of America were named in the inquiry, according to a regulatory filing cited by The New York Times. Situational Awareness has not been accused of wrongdoing, and the SEC declined to comment, noting any investigation is at its earliest stages. The fund, founded two years ago by former OpenAI researcher Leopold Aschenbrenner, commanded roughly $45 billion at its July high point with up to 400% leverage before losing approximately $35 billion in assets after margin calls forced a distressed sale of its publicly traded holdings.

President Donald Trump said Michael Selig, chairman of the CFTC, is working to bring perpetuals trading platforms such as Hyperliquid into the United States in a fully lawful and compliant manner. Speaking at a joint press conference with technology leaders and heads of federal agencies on Wednesday, Trump said Selig is working to bring perpetual futures markets into the country. The CFTC previously approved KalshiEX and Coinbase to list bitcoin perpetuals in the US for the first time. JPMorgan analysts said blockchain-based perpetual platforms such as Hyperliquid have surged in popularity because non-crypto traders are turning to 24-hour markets to access certain assets such as oil outside traditional market hours. Traditional exchanges such as CME and ICE are concerned that such platforms could be used to manipulate prices and distort markets, and want them to register with the CFTC, according to a Bloomberg report. After the press conference, Hyperliquid's HYPE token rose 17% over the past 24 hours, according to price data from The Block, while the 21Shares Hyperliquid ETF, Bitwise Hyperliquid ETF and Grayscale Hyperliquid Staking ETF rose nearly 20% in Wednesday's session. Hyperliquid Strategies, listed on Nasdaq, rose 30.4% on the same day. Trump also called on members of Congress to pass the Clarity Act, a broad cryptocurrency bill that would provide comprehensive federal oversight of the industry for the first time, describing it as a very structured and powerful law that would help the United States stay ahead of China and all other countries.

The US Treasury's unexpected announcement of expanded bond buybacks has put a brake on the rise in global long-term interest rates. The department said it will double the size of its liquidity-support purchase operations for longer-dated nominal coupon securities from 2 billion dollars to at least 4 billion dollars per operation. While that amount is tiny in the 32.2 trillion dollar US Treasury market, the move came shortly after the Treasury conducted yen-buying intervention in currency markets, and analysts see it as a sign of the administration's sensitivity to rising long-term yields and its willingness to intervene in markets. JPMorgan analysts said the announcement immediately eased borrowing costs somewhat, but noted that, like Japan's recent intervention, the Treasury's action masks underlying structural issues rather than addressing them. They added that over the longer term it could raise risk premiums, reflecting a Treasury that is stepping into markets and moving away from the principle of being regular and predictable. The 30-year US Treasury yield fell 9 basis points in overnight trading to 5.19 percent and was little changed in Tokyo trading on the 20th.

J.P. Morgan Chase ended its banking relationship with prediction-market operator Polymarket in October 2025 because of regulatory concerns, according to people familiar with the matter cited by the Financial Times. Polymarket subsequently moved to another bank, whose identity wasn’t disclosed. At the time, the platform was barred from serving U.S. customers following a 2022 Commodity Futures Trading Commission enforcement action over its operation of an unregistered derivatives exchange. The CFTC allowed New York-based Polymarket to resume U.S. operations in 2025 under the Trump administration, although the regulator reportedly continues to investigate the company. J.P. Morgan has maintained other connections with Polymarket, and Chief Executive Shayne Coplan appeared at a February conference for the bank’s private clients. Polymarket said it continues to work closely with J.P. Morgan through other entities, operating arrangements and customer-fund services, while J.P. Morgan declined to comment to Bloomberg News. Prediction markets have faced growing scrutiny from federal and state authorities, with more than a dozen states pursuing legal action against Polymarket and rival Kalshi, alleging that their platforms amount to illegal sports betting. Concerns about insider trading have added to the pressure, as a U.S. soldier involved in planning the January operation to capture Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro was charged with using confidential information to earn more than $400,000 through Polymarket wagers. Despite those risks, the industry continues to expand, with prediction platforms generating more than $250 billion in notional trading volume during 2026, according to user-compiled data from crypto analytics service Dune.

Moody's Analytics chief economist Mark Zandi warned that the Federal Reserve's reluctance to provide forward guidance is a serious mistake that could trigger a market sell-off and put the broader economy at risk. Fed chair Kevin Warsh wants the central bank to say less about where the economy is headed, and after the July 29 meeting where officials voted 9-3 to keep rates unchanged in the 3.5% to 3.75% range, Warsh declined to say what conditions would prompt a hike. Zandi said the lack of even a modicum of forward guidance will leave investors repeatedly wrong-footed, causing more volatility in bond and stock markets, a larger term premium, rising long-term interest rates, and a wobbly equity market. Bank of America economists also warned the Fed is facing a growing credibility problem, with traders potentially treating it like an emerging market central bank. The 30-year Treasury yield hit 5.22% on July 29, its highest since 2007, and investors now price a 30.8% chance of a quarter-point hike by year-end, with JPMorgan saying a September hike is a real possibility depending on data.