JD.com’s stablecoin ambition is not just for cross-border payments

As global regulatory attitudes become increasingly clear, the capital market is experiencing a new wave of stablecoin concepts. According to Wind data, the relevant index rose sharply for several consecutive days in mid-June. Under this prosperous scene, a division on the form of the next generation of financial infrastructure is taking shape. JD.com, a Chinese Internet technology giant, is entering this global game in a completely different way with the public announcement of its top leadership.

According to Sina Finance, Liu Qiangdong, Chairman of the Board of Directors of JD.com Group, has made it clear that his goal is to apply for stablecoin licenses in all major currency countries in the world, aiming to reduce the cost of cross-border payments between global companies by 90% and increase efficiency to within 10 seconds. Behind this announcement is a grand roadmap from solving its own pain points to building a global financial network.

Deconstructing JD.com: From “local infrastructure” to “global gaming”

It was not until June 17 that Liu Qiangdong placed the stablecoin strategy at the core of the company’s business that the outside world was able to get a glimpse of JD.com’s global financial blueprint. When Liu Qiangdong talked about the company’s strategy to reporters, he said, “JD.com’s international business does not follow the cross-border e-commerce route, but local e-commerce, local infrastructure, local employees, local procurement, local delivery, and only sells branded products.” This “localization” logic is the key to understanding its stablecoin layout.

If JD.com wants to replicate "Local JD.com" in the global mainstream market, it needs to equip each node with local settlement capabilities. To operate efficiently in Japan, it needs Japanese yen stablecoins; to land in Europe, it needs euro stablecoins. This kind of compliance demand inherent in the business has given rise to the 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 businesses.

After the B2B settlement network is connected, JD.com's second-stage goal is to move towards the C-end market and realize Liu Qiangdong's vision of "one day everyone can use JD.com stablecoins to pay when consuming around the world." The core challenge to achieving this cross-border consumer experience is the traditional foreign exchange friction (FX Friction). In fact, the current stablecoin market is highly dependent on US dollar stablecoins, and users in non-US dollar regions still need to frequently exchange currencies when paying, which is costly and inefficient. To solve this problem, the multi-currency stablecoin system anchored to local fiat currencies built by JD.com in the first phase will become the key to breaking through this barrier. Once the network matures, it will not only be a set of internal settlement tools, but will also evolve into a programmable and efficient "on-chain foreign exchange market" to provide underlying support for seamless payment and instant exchange between global users.

It can be said that the focus of JD.com's stablecoin strategy is to directly cut into the traditional trade settlement market, take "compliance" as the core barrier, and focus on serving global physical enterprises that have rigid demand for transparent and efficient payment solutions. This approach is highly consistent with the background of Liu Peng, CEO of JD.com CoinChain Technology. This industry veteran who was deeply involved in the design of "WeChat Pay" has always been committed to embedding payment technology into real industry scenarios throughout his career, making JD.com's "industry priority" path not only pragmatic and feasible, but also more credible.

Ultimately, when the financial network built by JD.com has sufficient liquidity and trust foundation, its stablecoin strategy will evolve from an internal settlement system of the enterprise to an open "international stablecoin settlement hub."

Two Paradigms: The Blurred Boundaries of US Stablecoin Bill

However, while Asian technology giants such as JD.com are accelerating their “vertical integration” model, the United States across the ocean is building a completely different set of rules. The highly anticipated GENIUS Act stablecoin bill was recently passed by the U.S. Senate with an overwhelming bipartisan vote of 68-30.

However, the passage of the stablecoin bill in the Senate is only the first step in this long journey of regulation. According to reports, the bill has received more than 100 amendment proposals, and a "battle of interpretation" on the details of the rules has just begun. Among them, a widely watched amendment clause is particularly critical. The clause proposes that: a listed company whose main business is not financial... shall not issue payment stablecoins unless it obtains the unanimous vote of a "stablecoin certification review committee". The final right of interpretation and specific implementation details of this clause will be decided by regulatory agencies such as the Federal Reserve and the Treasury Department in a fierce game. If the restrictions are strictly enforced, then for technology giants such as Amazon and Walmart, the way forward will be to cooperate with licensed issuers rather than issuing them themselves; and for existing issuers like Circle that have already made a lot of compliance investments at the state level, this is tantamount to a "regulatory moat" solidified by federal law.

So far, in addition to the digital RMB, China and the United States have shown two seemingly different models in exploring the future development path of the global stablecoin market: the first is the Asian model represented by JD.com: driven by business giants and seeking "vertical integration". The second is the model represented by the United States: driven by regulation, its mainstream trend is to seek "separation of issuance and distribution", but the ambiguity of the final rules leaves huge uncertainty in the market.

Beyond the chessboard: Geo-finance beyond payment

All this is happening against the backdrop of changes in the global monetary system and reflection on the reliance on the SWIFT system. JD.com's strategic intentions have gone beyond simple commercial efficiency considerations. It has clearly expressed its support for and promotion of the issuance of offshore RMB stablecoins, but whether it will eventually come to fruition still depends on mainland supervision. Once this multi-currency stablecoin network is built, it will itself be an efficient global trade settlement layer that does not rely on the hegemony of the US dollar.

Therefore, JD.com's layout can be interpreted as a bottom-up exploration of RMB internationalization led by market forces. The world is focusing on this big game driven by regulation and business that may determine the form of the next generation of financial infrastructure.