US multinational investment bank JP Morgan is set to begin customer trials of the firm’s native “JPM Coin” cryptocurrency in conjunction with corporate clients.

From a report published by Bloomberg Japan, the bank’s head of digital treasury services and blockchain, Umar Farooq, said that customers will soon trial the technology with the ultimate aim of speeding up transactions, such as payments between firms and bond transactions.

The trials are being conducted on the assumption the cryptocurrency will receive a regulatory green light, which is still to be confirmed.

JPM Coin – which was first revealed in February – will initially run on top of Quorum, a private version of Ethereum developed by the bank.

A US dollar-pegged stablecoin

JPM Coin will function as a stablecoin. Those who wish to buy it must deposit fiat cash at the bank in exchange for the token, which can then be transacted through a permissioned distributed ledger. The recipient can later redeem the token for cash from JP Morgan.

Initially linked to the US dollar, the coin is expected to be extended to other fiat currencies as it is rolled out to other JP Morgan clients.

Farooq told Bloomberg: “The technology is very good, but it takes time in terms of licensing and approval. It must be explained.”

As well as inter-firm remittances, he said that the cryptocurrency could be used to settle bonds and commodities transactions. Clients in regions including Europe, the USA, and Japan have already shown interest, according to the firm’s blockchain lead.

Earlier this year, Coin Rivet hypothesised what may happen if JP Morgan’s ‘permissioned’ blockchain was ever hacked.

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