Tokenisation is entering a new phase of institutional deployment, and Kinexys by JP Morgan is  at the centre of this shift. Speaking at the Singapore Fintech Festival (SFF) 2025, Kara Kennedy, global co-head of Kinexys by JP Morgan, described how the bank is accelerating its work across tokenised assets, on chain commercial bank money and programmable liquidity solutions. She discussed how tokenised deposits, stablecoins and central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) are taking on clearer roles within public and private blockchain environments, and how industry frameworks, interoperability and regulatory coordination are becoming prerequisites for scale. Kennedy set out a pragmatic but forward-moving view: institutional adoption is no longer theoretical and is already accelerating across specific use cases, but it will unfold in parallel with legacy systems for years to come.

Evolving mandate and the shift towards integrated tokenised finance

When asked about her initial mandate, Kennedy said she joined Kinexys at “a very exciting time” when the business sits “as a crucial part of the firm’s strategy around digital assets digital payments”. She noted that JP Morgan has already been operating institutional blockchain platforms “for several years now” and sees her remit as accelerating tokenised asset activity across both post-trade and on-chain cash.

Her background in the bank’s securities services business informed this direction. She said she joined “with a view around how we can really accelerate efforts around tokenised assets, looking at the post trade space and what that means in terms of the interaction between both the digital asset side and the on-chain cash side”. For her, the work now is about “joining the dots between the asset and the payment side” and evolving solutions that solve “particular client pain points” through new functionality.
Kennedy underscored that efforts are no longer experimental. She positioned Kinexys as a unit that is simultaneously advancing  digital payments, expanding its tokenisation capabilities and integrating these innovations coherently into the wider bank. The strategic shift is towards a single operating logic, where tokenised money and tokenised assets  converge to unlock institutional-scale value.

Tokenised deposits, CBDCs and stablecoins in a differentiated ecosystem

Kennedy drew clear distinctions between the forms of on-chain money often grouped together. She stressed that tokenised deposits, CBDCs and stablecoins “are very different” despite frequently being discussed in the same frame.

She highlighted JP Morgan’s announcement of JPM Coin on a public blockchain: “We made a really exciting announcement yesterday about the launch of JPM Coin.which  is our deposit token solution, now available on Base, Coinbase’s Ethereum layer two platform”. For the bank, institutional commercial-bank money on public blockchain infrastructure is not optional, “Commercial bank money on chain is a necessity in order to really unlock and scale some of the solutions in the public blockchain ecosystem”.
Deposit tokens sit alongside CBDCs and stablecoins in the same way traditional payments infrastructure hosts multiple forms of money. Kennedy emphasised that the bank’s focus is shaped by its client base: developing regulated commercial-bank deposit tokens “to complement the solutions we already have within our private blockchain infrastructure”.

Her comments reflect an ecosystem logic: regulated tokenised deposits anchor institutional use cases, while other on-chain cash types play parallel roles. The core message is that tokenised deposits are structurally familiar and regulatory-aligned, enabling scale in ways other constructs cannot yet match.

Building interoperability across private, public and legacy infrastructure

Kennedy acknowledged that tokenised money remains fragmented as “islands of innovation” across institutions. The task now is interoperability. She said Kinexys is building on the assumption of a “multi-chain, multi-solution end state” and plans accordingly.
Global alignment is still emerging. The bank sees “a very emerging global regulatory framework” that requires industry cooperation. Kennedy referred to a collaboration with DBS announced during the festival on tokenised deposits, describing it as part of “starting to build some of the requirements for interoperability”.

Standards remain the foundation. Kennedy said, “The products do not all need to be the same, but there needs to be clarity about where they work together  and where there are key differences, because that will drive  confidence in the user base and greater adoption.”

She also stressed that parallel infrastructures will coexist for years. Even as public blockchain use increases, “we are going to have years, possibly decades to come, where we have parallel operating models” requiring banks to keep integrating blockchain platforms back into legacy systems.

Interoperability, therefore, is not only cross-chain or cross-bank. It is also the practical task of enabling institutional clients to operate across private blockchains, public chains and existing bank systems without friction.

Regulatory engagement anchored in bank-grade treatment

Regulatory scrutiny is increasing, particularly in the United States. Kennedy described tokenised deposits as structurally advantageous because “they are essentially a bank deposit”, giving certainty on capital and accounting treatment that “you perhaps do not” have in newer constructs.

Across jurisdictions, JP Morgan engages regulators both directly and through industry groups. Kennedy stressed the importance of regulatory consistency: where the activity is the same, “simply using different technologies”, controls and oversight should remain aligned.

Her emphasis was on partnership rather than compliance alone. Regulators are “a key part of that journey” to ensure a “robust and trusted ecosystem”. The bank’s approach is not to seek special classification for blockchain-based products but to embed them into existing prudential frameworks where possible.

This reflects a regulatory philosophy focused on continuity ; innovations are meaningful only if they fit within trusted supervisory structures.

Commercial use cases for liquidity, programmability and operational precision

Kennedy identified liquidity management as a central driver for tokenised deposits. She emphasised the importance of enabling clients “to transfer money 24/7, and importantly on a programmable basis that enables much greater functionality than is available in the legacy infrastructure”.

She illustrated this through JP Morgan’s intraday digital financing solution. Built on the Kinexys Digital Assets platform, it allows “intraday repo agreements that can be created and unwound down to the minute”, offering “a much more precise liquidity solution” than legacy systems can support.

Efficiency is equally important. Kennedy pointed to the Kinexys Fund Flow product launched last month, which uses blockchain to solve “key pain points in the alternatives industry” by improving transparency and certainty of capital settlements. This is less about new products and more about fixing structural frictions.

Together these examples reveal two commercial pathways. New functionality—programmable, real-time liquidity and asset interaction. Infrastructure repair—using blockchain to solve settlement, transparency and timing issues that traditional systems struggle to address. Both pathways are gaining institutional adoption simultaneously.

Adoption momentum and trajectory for the next decade

Kennedy said clearly that the industry is no longer waiting for acceleration: “We are already in the acceleration phase”. Kinexys has operated mature products for years, but demand has shifted dramatically in the past 12 months.

She expects public chain commercial bank cash to be an additional accelerant, opening new settlement and asset-interaction use cases. Private blockchain use cases, such as fund flows and intraday financing, will continue scaling in parallel.

The scale of change is significant: “If you consider where we are now from where we were 12 months ago, the change is phenomenal.” Kennedy anticipates a landscape that “will look very different” within a five to 10-year horizon.

The direction of travel is clear: tokenised infrastructure is no longer peripheral. It is restructuring liquidity, settlement and asset-servicing workflows at increasing speed.

Organisational change as the enabler of institutional tokenisation

Kennedy argued that technology alone does not allow a bank to scale tokenisation. Organisational structures and cross-business collaboration are essential. Kinexys operates as a dedicated blockchain unit that “is really mandated to drive some of that disruptive change” while supporting business lines across markets, security services, asset management and the private bank.
Her team works closely with specialists across the organisation who “know their businesses, they know their clients”, enabling them to adapt blockchain solutions with domain specificity. She said this model “works really well for an organisation like JP Morgan” and expects it to deepen as maturity increases.

The balanced message is that institutional tokenisation is progressing rapidly, but responsibly. Standards, regulatory alignment and operational integration remain critical. The transformation is underway, but it is being built through incremental, bank-grade capabilities rather than speculation.