Although the banking institution has expressed little interest in the use of cryptocurrencies, the company currently has 45 applications filed with the respective agencies for the development of products with the underlying technology of digital currencies.
The interest in digital currencies and their underlying technology has grown year after year, and proof of this is the number of patents registered annually for related products and services.
Some of the companies whose names are among the ones that have filed the most patents with the respective organizations are Bitflyer and IBM, companies that have shown great interest in Blockchain technology, which already have more than 30 applications associated with products and services linked to digital coins.
However, the company that registers the largest number of patents is precisely Bank of America. According to information published by the website Monetse.com, the banking institution ranks first in the group of companies that have introduced this type of applications, accumulating 45 proposals in total, surpassing companies such as IBM or Alibaba.
The case is surprising since the banking institution has repeatedly expressed little interest in getting involved with cryptocurrencies, even taking measures so that their clients can not use the credit cards sponsored by the bank for the purchase of balances. in different exchange platforms.
However, it is not surprising that along with Mastercard International, Bank of America is attracted by the potential of Blockchain technology, which has proven its usefulness by enabling the sending of assets in much shorter time spans, at a lower cost and guaranteeing total transparency in the process to avoid the loss of assets and misappropriation of funds. In 2016, the banking institution already had 35 patent applications for products with decentralized ledger technology.
Patents: Do they promote innovation or leave the competition behind?
Patents grant their holders the exclusive rights over the creation of a product - as a technological creation - during a certain period of time. While this is a mechanism designed to protect the intellectual property of creators, there are many critics who believe that patenting does not favor innovation and is a waste of resources.
Criticism to this type of measures is given because there are companies that apply for patents that are too broad and then resort to their lawyers to prevent someone from entering the area that they have previously reserved. Therefore, many believe that everything related to patents are not part of the plan of those who want to make the Internet a better place thanks to the development of cryptocurrencies and Blockchain technology.
However, even if a company can have a large number of registered and approved patents, this does not mean that they have extensive experience in the field or that the technology they plan to develop has any merit. Taking the case of the early Bitcoin developers, they were more interested in creating a revolutionary product than in the fact that their code was protected by centralized databases.
A recently published report associated with Bitcoin patents reveals that 50% of applications come from China (estimated from a total of 910 patents), followed by the USA (676), the United Kingdom (112) and South Korea (98). Regardless of the specifications of each patent and the use that is intended to be given to the products to be developed, these figures show the great interest in digital currencies and the Blockchain technology ecosystem , which is why there are a large number of interested participants in participating within this area.
By the beginning of last year, more than 1,250 patents filed with the respective agencies were counted. No doubt this figure could easily be overcome this year, especially now that large corporations have finally seen the enormous potential that cryptocurrencies have for their business operations.
A close example that illustrates the usefulness of this technology for banks comes from the hand of Grupo Santander, an entity that recently launched a product that allows the realization of instant payments with the support of Blockchain technology developed by Ripple.
