Jamie Dimon, chairman and chief executive of JPMorgan, has had a colourful relationship with bitcoin, which he has criticised time and again as the virtual currency’s worth has risen and fallen.

The Wall Street boss’s impassioned arguments against bitcoin make all the more surprising the bank’s decision to create a new digital coin: JPM Coin. The move, announced on February 14, suggests the bank has found a new willingness to experiment with the underlying technology that powers bitcoin.