Barclays is working with a startup to run a pilot program testing bitcoin as a payment system, the latest in a long string of forays by Wall Street firms looking at the digital currency and the technology behind it.

Barclays and the bitcoin startup, Safello, will build a program that would allow charities to accept bitcoin. While the details are being kept under wraps, Barclays said it is interested in bitcoin's underlying technology, and this appears to be the first time a big bank has directly undertaken a live experiment with the digital currency.