NEW YORK -- JPMorgan Chase & Co (JPM.N) has left the mammoth bank blockchain consortium led by New York-based startup R3 CEV, as financial institutions refine their strategies around the nascent technology, R3 confirmed on Thursday.

R3, which counts about 80 financial institutions as members, wants to raise US$150 million from its members and strategic investors, for a 60-per-cent stake.

"We're grateful to JPMorgan for their input to R3," R3 said in a statement after Reuters reported the bank's departure. "We've got over 80 members across the world and have secured significant commitment from them in terms of both capital and resources."

JPMorgan did not immediately have a statement.

JPMorgan's move follows the departure of other large banks from the R3 consortium.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc (GS.N), Banco Santander SA (SAN.N), Morgan Stanley (MS.N) and National Australian Bank left the group in quick succession in late 2016, as R3 proceeded with its fundraising plans.

Like the other banks that have left the group, JPMorgan is involved in other blockchain initiatives.

The bank is a member of the newly formed blockchain consortium Enterprise Ethereum Alliance, and is an investor in blockchain startups Axoni and Digital Asset Holdings. It also participates in the Hyperledger Project, a cross-industry group led by the Linux Foundation.

R3, which began operating in September 2015, seeks to help the financial sector develop shared blockchain technology to run some of their most cumbersome and expensive processes.

Blockchain is a distributed ledger of transactions that is maintained by a network of computers on the internet rather than a centralized authority. It first emerged as the system underpinning cryptocurrency bitcoin, but banks are hoping it can help them reduce the complexity and costs of activities like international payments and trading settlement.

Skeptics have warned that the technology is still in its early days and it might take many years before the financial industry can reap any benefits.

Since it began operating, R3 has rapidly gained the support from the world's largest banks, with members including UBS Group AG (UBS.N) and Deutsche Bank AG. So far they have paid membership fees to participate in the company's activities.

Thomson Reuters Corp (TRI.T) is also a member of R3.