While traditional cross-border payments are still troubled by a 4-day transaction cycle and high fees, JD has already launched plans with stablecoins to impact global financial infrastructure. On June 18, JD Group Chairman Liu Qiangdong announced the strategic plan to 'apply for stablecoin licenses in major currency countries around the world,' while JD Coin Chain's CEO Liu Peng revealed a more specific timeline in an exclusive interview: 'We expect to obtain licenses and launch stablecoins in early Q4 2025.' This payment revolution initiated by e-commerce giants is striving to reshape the underlying logic of global capital flow with 'compliance' and 'efficiency' as dual engines.
Strategic blueprint: From cross-border payments to global financial infrastructure
In the traditional financial system, cross-border remittances between enterprises take an average of 2 to 4 days, and the comprehensive costs remain high. JD's breakthrough point directly addresses this pain point—reducing cross-border payment costs by 90% through stablecoins and achieving efficiency leaps with transactions completed within 10 seconds. Behind this goal is the technological validation already established by JD Coin Chain: during the HKMA's stablecoin issuer sandbox testing, its stablecoin pegged to the Hong Kong dollar has successfully conducted practical exercises in cross-border payments, investment transactions, and retail payments.
More noteworthy is JD's strategic extensibility. According to the plan, the stablecoin will first serve B-end enterprise settlements, leveraging the 'massive merchant' settlement needs in JD's e-commerce ecosystem to complete a cold start, before gradually penetrating the C-end. The vision that 'global consumers will be able to use JD stablecoins for payments' suggests that JD is attempting to replicate its domestic mobile payment experience onto the global Web3 financial infrastructure track. This approach of entering financial services from industrial scenarios echoes the logic of WeChat Pay's rise based on its social ecosystem.
Compliance breakthrough: When stablecoins meet regulatory sandboxes
In the stablecoin landscape where USDT and USDC occupy 80% of the market share, JD's core competitiveness is clearly defined as 'compliance.' In July 2024, JD Coin Chain entered the Hong Kong Monetary Authority's sandbox with two other institutions, becoming one of the first institutions to test stablecoins under a compliance framework. This 'regulatory-first' strategy has given it a first-mover advantage amidst the accelerated stablecoin legislation in major markets like Singapore and the European Union.
Liu Peng particularly emphasized the essential difference between stablecoins and cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin: 'It is a payment tool, not a speculative target.' This positioning allows JD's stablecoin to bypass the regulatory controversies surrounding cryptocurrencies, instead aligning it with mobile payments. After the Hong Kong (Stablecoin Regulation) comes into effect on August 1, 2025, JD Coin Chain plans to simultaneously launch stablecoins pegged to the Hong Kong dollar and other fiat currencies, with issuance data published on the public chain, establishing a trust basis through a 'transparent and auditable' mechanism.
Scenario revolution: From cross-border trade to supply chain finance
In the core battlefield of cross-border payments, JD's stablecoin adopts a 'dual-track customer acquisition' strategy: it directly connects with physical enterprises and cooperates with compliant wholesalers to expand its user base. Regions with frequent international trade, such as the Asia-Pacific, Middle East, and Africa, are seen as priority landing scenarios, while JD's global sales platform in Hong Kong and Macau has become a testing ground for retail payments. This 'industry + finance' combination model differentiates it from pure crypto stablecoin players.
More imaginative is the innovation in supply chain finance. JD is sorting out international logistics scenarios and plans to allow small and medium-sized enterprises going abroad to put their overseas warehouse order data on-chain, achieving seamless payment and financing through stablecoins. The efficiency improvement of 'reducing the capital turnover from several days to seconds, cutting costs by half' may have a disruptive impact on the traditional settlement model of cross-border trade. This idea of integrating logistics, information flow, and capital flow on-chain suggests that stablecoins could become a key variable in reconstructing the global supply chain.
Technological iteration: From mobile payments to Web3 infrastructure
In comparison to mobile payments back in the day, stablecoins show significant differences in technical architecture. Mobile payments rely on centralized systems, while stablecoins are based on decentralized blockchain, giving them a natural underlying advantage for cross-border circulation. Liu Peng metaphorically stated, 'Just as QR codes replaced POS machines to lower payment thresholds, stablecoins may reconstruct the financial infrastructure of bulk transactions through on-chain settlements.'
However, challenges also exist. Stablecoins require global regulatory collaboration, while mobile payments only need breakthroughs in single markets. Liu Peng admitted that to stimulate C-end users' motivation to use the stablecoin, it might need a phenomenon-level application similar to 'WeChat Red Envelopes.' However, on the B-end, the high friction costs of cross-border payment scenarios have already opened a gap for stablecoins, especially in emerging markets with volatile exchange rates, where the dual attributes of stablecoins as a store of value and payment medium will be more attractive.
Future outlook: Can stablecoins reshape the global payment system?
Currently, the global stablecoin market size is approximately 250 billion USD. With international financial centers like Hong Kong and Singapore accelerating legislation, this number may see explosive growth. JD's entry is not just a strategic choice for the company but also reflects the industry trend of payment paradigms evolving from 'offline - online' to 'online - on-chain.'
When JD's stablecoin compresses cross-border payment costs to 10% of traditional methods, and on-chain settlement boosts capital flow efficiency by hundreds of times, the underlying logic of global trade may be rewritten. Just as mobile payments propelled the rise of China's digital economy, stablecoins in the Web3 era may become the new infrastructure for the digitalization of global trade. With its dual accumulation of e-commerce ecology and payment experience, JD is playing the role of a 'bridge builder' in this transformation—connecting traditional international trade scenarios while interfacing with blockchain technology systems, attempting to construct a more efficient and transparent global payment network within a compliance framework.
The stablecoin experiment led by e-commerce giants raises the question: can it ultimately break through the barriers of the existing financial system and turn the vision of 10-second transactions and low-cost cross-border payments into reality? Perhaps, as Liu Peng said, only when stablecoins become the underlying components of commercial infrastructure, just like mobile payments, can we truly understand their reconstructive power for the global economy. Every step JD takes is a footnote to this future.