One the largest US banks has been reported to start cutting costs to adjust to a tougher environment, but increasing spending on distributed ledger research and development at the same time.

According to its chief administrative officer Sanoke Viswanathan, JP Morgan, which is said to be “quietly testing” the technology transferring US dollars between London and Tokyo, plans to get down to “real trades” in the year's third quarter, provided that it gets regulatory approval.

Earlier, JPMorgan's Chairman and Chief Executive James Dimon publicly doubted the future of bitcoin digital currency but said that blockchain could be “very useful”. He also warned shareholders about the Silicon Valley's onset with its “hundreds of startups with a lot of brains and money working on various alternatives to traditional banking”.

To keep to the pace, JPMorgan has been actively collaborating on blockchain development with such institutions as R3, Linux Foundation and Digital Asset Holdings headed by former JPMorgan executive Blythe Masters. The bank is also planning to invest in establishing partnerships with emerging companies and startups, and to focus on cybersecurity.