Source: PANews
Original Title: JD's Stablecoin Ambition, More Than Cross-Border Payment
Against the backdrop of increasingly clear global regulatory attitudes, the capital market is launching a new wave of stablecoin concepts. According to Wind data, the related index has been rising sharply for multiple days in mid-June. Beneath this prosperous scene, a division about the form of the next-generation financial infrastructure is taking shape. JD, a Chinese internet technology giant, is entering this global game with a completely different approach, as publicly declared by its top leadership.
According to Sina Finance, JD Group's Chairman Liu Qiangdong has clearly stated that his goal is to apply for stablecoin licenses in all major monetary countries globally, aiming to reduce cross-border payment costs for global enterprises by 90% and improve efficiency to within 10 seconds. Behind this announcement lies a grand roadmap from solving internal pain points to building a global financial network.
Deconstructing JD: From "Local Infrastructure" to "Global Strategy"
Until June 17th, when Liu Qiangdong first placed the stablecoin strategy at the core of the company's blueprint, the outside world got a glimpse of JD's global financial plan. Liu told reporters that "JD's international business will not follow cross-border e-commerce, but local e-commerce, local infrastructure, local employees, local procurement, and local delivery, selling only brand goods." This "localization" logic is key to understanding its stablecoin layout.
For JD to replicate a "local JD" in global mainstream markets, it needs to equip each node with local settlement capabilities. To operate efficiently in Japan, it needs a yen stablecoin; to land in Europe, it needs a euro stablecoin. This business-inherent compliance need has spawned a rigid pursuit of "local stablecoin licenses". The first stage goal of the stablecoin network is to create a unified and efficient financial operating system for distributed global business.
After the B2B settlement network is established, JD's second-stage goal is to enter the C-end market, realizing Liu Qiangdong's vision of "one day everyone can pay with JD stablecoins when consuming worldwide". The core challenge in achieving this cross-border consumption experience is traditional foreign exchange friction. Currently, the stablecoin market heavily depends on US dollar stablecoins, and non-US dollar region users still need to frequently exchange currencies, with high costs and low efficiency. To solve this, the multi-currency stablecoin system anchored to local legal currencies that JD builds in the first stage will be key to breaking down this barrier. Once the network matures, it will evolve from an internal settlement tool to a programmable, efficient "on-chain foreign exchange market" providing underlying support for seamless payment and instant exchange among global users.
It can be said that the focus of JD's stablecoin strategy is directly targeting the traditional trade settlement market, with "compliance" as the core barrier, focusing on serving global entity enterprises with rigid demands for transparent and efficient payment solutions. This approach highly aligns with the background of JD Coin Chain Technology CEO Liu Peng, who was deeply involved in "WeChat Pay" design and has always been committed to embedding payment technology into real industry scenarios, making JD's "industry-first" path not only pragmatic but also credible.
Ultimately, when the financial network JD builds has sufficient liquidity and trust foundation, its stablecoin strategy will evolve from an internal corporate settlement system to an externally open "international stablecoin settlement hub".
Two Paradigms: The Blurry Boundaries of US Stablecoin Bill
However, while Asian tech giants like JD are accelerating the layout of a "vertical integration" model, the United States is constructing a completely different rule system. The much-anticipated 'GENIUS Act' stablecoin bill recently passed in the US Senate with an overwhelming bipartisan vote of 68-30.
Yet, the bill's passage in the Senate is just the first step in this regulatory long march. According to reports, the bill received over 100 amendment proposals, and a "battle of interpretation" about rule details has just begun. A particularly key amendment proposes that a non-financial public company... shall not issue payment stablecoins unless unanimously approved by a "Stablecoin Certification Review Committee". The final interpretation rights and specific implementation details will be decided by regulatory agencies like the Federal Reserve and Treasury Department through intense negotiations. If restrictions are strictly enforced, companies like Amazon and Walmart will need to collaborate with licensed issuers rather than issuing their own. For existing issuers like Circle, which have already made extensive compliance investments at the state level, this is tantamount to a "regulatory moat" solidified by federal law.
At this point, apart from digital RMB, China and the US are exploring different paths for the future of the global stablecoin market: First, the Asian model represented by JD, driven by commercial giants seeking "vertical integration". Second, the US model driven by regulation, with a mainstream trend seeking "separation of issuance and distribution", but with enormous uncertainty left by the ultimate rule's ambiguity.
Beyond the Chessboard: Geopolitical Finance Beyond Payment
All of this is happening against the backdrop of global monetary system transformation and reflection on dependence on the SWIFT system. JD's strategic intent has transcended pure commercial efficiency considerations. It clearly supports and promotes issuing offshore RMB stablecoins, though ultimate success depends on mainland regulation. Once this multi-currency stablecoin network is built, it itself would be an efficient global trade clearing layer independent of US dollar hegemony.
Therefore, JD's layout can be interpreted as a market-driven, bottom-up exploration of RMB internationalization. The world's eyes are focused here, observing this major game potentially determining the next generation of financial infrastructure, driven by both regulation and commerce.
