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JPMorgan Chase<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Citigroup<\/a>\u00a0are intensifying their long-standing rivalry by shifting global payment flows to blockchain-based systems.<\/p>\n A report Monday (April 20) from Bloomberg News examines the diverging strategies of the two banking giants, getting insights from a pair of their executives:\u00a0Umar Farooq<\/a>, global co-head of\u00a0JPMorgan Payments<\/a>, and\u00a0Shahmir Khaliq<\/a>, global head of services at Citigroup.<\/p>\n Khaliq explained that the core mission is solving the \u201cability for large multinationals, big banks and broker-dealers and fintechs to be able to move their money around, make payments seamlessly around the world 24\/7.\u201d<\/p>\n To achieve this, Citigroup has\u00a0teamed up<\/a>\u00a0with\u00a0Coinbase<\/a>\u00a0while expanding its own Citi Token Services, which Khaliq says gives the bank a \u201cleg up in how we execute that strategy.\u201d<\/p>\n JPMorgan has primarily focused on its in-house\u00a0Kinexys<\/a>\u00a0platform, which processes more than $5 billion in daily transactions using\u00a0deposit tokens<\/a>\u00a0such as JPM Coin, which the bank has called a \u201csuperior alternative\u201d to stablecoins.<\/p>\n Farooq told Bloomberg he is more cautious about stablecoins, arguing that their issuers \u201cshould be regulated more like banks\u201d and that \u201cIf you\u2019re taking the same sort of risk, you should have the same sort of regs.\u201d<\/p>\n Advertisement: Scroll to Continue<\/p>\n<\/div>\n He also noted that while bank-led deposit tokens integrate decades of compliance infrastructure, some stablecoin issuers may take a \u201clightweight\u201d approach to crucial controls like\u00a0know your customer<\/a>\u00a0(KYC).<\/p>\n Despite their tactical differences, both executives see a massive shift on the horizon, especially given the rise of\u00a0agentic commerce<\/a>, where AI agents transact autonomously.<\/p>\n \u201cIf I look five years out, this is a world that is going to change radically, driven by AI and blockchain,\u201d said Khaliq.<\/p>\n While these digital volumes are currently a small fraction of the trillions handled daily on traditional systems, both banks say they are positioned for a future where money is increasingly tokenized and programmable, the report added.<\/p>\n PYMNTS explored Citi\u2019s blockchain efforts last year in a conversation with\u00a0Biswarup Chatterjee<\/a>, global head of partnerships and innovation, Citi Services.<\/p>\n