With its JPM Coin digital currency now being used by a client commercially, JPMorgan Chase has created a new unit to house its blockchain and crypto efforts.
JPMorgan Chase created the JPM Coin digital token last year to enable the instant settlement of transactions between the bank's wholesale payments business clients.
This week, a large technology firm has become the first client to use the coin commercially, the bank's global head of wholesale payments, Takis Georgakopoulos, tells CNBC.
Meanwhile, a new unit, called Onyx, has been created to house more than 100 staffers working on the bank's various blockchain and digital currency projects.
The decision represents a belief at JPMorgan Chase that "we are shifting to a period of commercialization of those technologies, moving from research and development to something that can become a real business," says Georgakopoulos.
The bank is focusing on removing pain points in wholesale payments, simplifying a system which relies on a complex global web of correspondent banks. Another area ripe for disruption is the processing of paper cheques, Georgakopoulos tells CNBC.