JP Morgan is quietly testing technology that underpins the digital currency bitcoin on US dollar transfers between London and Tokyo, part of an effort to boost its spending to deal with emerging threats from Silicon Valley.

The nation's largest bank has been testing the program in recent months to move US dollars for about 2,200 clients between the two financial centres using a version of the "blockchain" technology that underpins bitcoin, said Daniel Pinto, head of JP Morgan's corporate and investment bank. The bank wants to see whether the blockchain technology, known as the "distributed ledger," can be repurposed for currency clearing and settlement to give clients faster turnaround times and reduce the bank's risk.