Big Banks Intensely Filing for Blockchain Patents

Lately, some of the biggest names in financial services space like GoldMan Sachs, Bank of America and MasterCard have quietly patented some of the most efficient blockchain technologies. Surprisingly, till the Mid-November, the number of blockchain related patents have  doubled as compared with the number of patents applied for at the starting of the year. Blockchain distributed ledger being an open-source code available to general public has aroused legal disputes related to who owns the rights to the technical innovations built using the publicly available open source code. It's worth noting that Decentralized Blockchain Development had already been in buzz for the past couple of years among big financial firms.

Remind you 40 of the world’s largest and biggest banks who also form a part of the R3 consortium are already seeking ways to use blockchain for money transfers, record-keeping and related backend operations. Not to forget, WalMart is already in the testing phase of replacing its own database with the blockchain based one to have minute details of the food packaging known to it so as to detect the defaulter in case of adulterated food package found in the store thus ensuring food safety.

Neither Goldman Sachs spokesperson nor Bank of America commented on the patent related questions asked to them by reporters and media persons. While MasterCard’s Justin PinkHam said that it is not a big deal that financial firms are filing for patents as it's quite normal and a prerequisite to protect our own blockchain inventions.

He spoke quiet openly in support of filing patents and described it as a much required and important task to be performed by all the finance related firms dealing with the blockchain technology. He further added that the company has already filed for around 30 patents related to blockchain and cryptocurrencies.

In an ever growing Blockchain Industry, the stakes have been rising rapidly at a steep upward slope. Initially originated to keep track of bitcoin transactions, its emergence in other industries has given it the title of the next big thing in the global financial transactions domain.

                    Image Credit : Bloomberg

In the recent times, the digital currency exchange platform has got the backing of one of the topmost names in financial market like Blythe Masters, an ex JPMorgan Banker who is among one of the most vocal personalities to speak for blockchain technology to be used in every single vertical related to finance. She is predominantly in support of blockchain based solutions for digital transactions and record-keeping in industries like Supply Chain and HealthCare too.

Why Financial Firms are Too Eager to File Patents

It is expected that a multi-Billion Dollar market will emerge out of the Blockchain Industry in the coming decade, an analyst at Wedbush securities predicted. And that is making the firms to file patents for their most efficient and modern innovations related to blockchain technology.

356 families of Blockchains have received applications for patents worldwide in November compared to 180 in January as stated by Marc Kaufman who is an expert in fintech intellectual property at Reed Smith. He further added that we can expect an exponential increase in the number of patents during the next five years and these numbers will be in thousands.

According to the statistics of US Patent and Trademark Office website, there had been numerous patents been filed in the past 6 months and most of them are lying unanswered as of now because of the patent volumes being too huge to address. On Bitcoin itself, the number of patents pending are close to 500. Blockchain based applications development is in huge demand among various financial firms these days because of its expanding horizon.

Also Read : Blockchain To Run Futuristic Government Operations And Services

What’s interesting to look for is how many of these claims get approved and how many get rejected. Watch out for that !