Alibaba, IBM and Mastercard Now Have The Most Blockchain Patents
The latest blockchain patent ranking was released recently by iPR Daily. The ranking was published on August 31st and in it you can see the clear leaders in Blockchain innovation by patents filed. The top four are the giants: Alibaba, IBM, Master Card and Bank of America. The fifth spot is taken by the People’s Bank of China, China’s Central Bank. The People’s Bank of China filed 44 patent applications related to their ambitions for a Central Bank digital currency in China. The data was consolidated by iPR Daily from across the world with the help of the World Intellectual Property Organization and the International Patent System.
Alibaba leads with 90 filed patents
The first place was taken by Alibaba with 90 filed Blockchain patents with a close second going to IBM with 89 filed Blockchain...
Square Wins Patent for Cryptocurrency Payment Network
Digital payments firm Square has won a patent for a payment network that allows merchants to accept payments in any currency, including bitcoin or another cryptocurrency.
Square Wins Patent for Crypto Payment Network
Public documents published on Aug. 21 show that the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office (USPTO) has approved Square’s application to patent a system that allows merchants to accept cryptocurrencies alongside conventional payment methods and cash out in their currency of choice. The San Francisco-based firm first filed for the patent in Sept. 2017.
From the patent:
“The disclosed technology addresses the need in the art for a payment service capable of accepting a greater diversity of currencies…including virtual currencies including cryptocurrencies (bitcoin, ether, etc.)…than a traditional payment system in a transaction between a customer and a merchant, and specifically for a payment service to solve or ameliorate problems germane to transactions with such currencies. Specifically, the payment service described herein can facilitate real-time (or substantially real-time) transactions, allowing a customer to pay in any currency of their choice, while the merchant can receive payment in a currency of their choice.”
Square would not be the first payment processor to allow merchants to accept payments in cryptocurrency that are automatically converted into local currency. BitPay, for instance, has been processing bitcoin payments since 2011.
However, Square already has tremendous market penetration, so adding cryptocurrency payments to its present POS system would allow millions of merchants to accept bitcoin without having to onboard to another payment processor or manually convert cryptocurrency funds into fiat.
Eliminating Bitcoin Transaction Latency
Notably, the patent also details a...
Walmart Looks to Blockchain for Package Tracking Patent
Walmart continues to develop blockchain applications to optimize the retail industry.
Walmart has yet another delivery-focused blockchain patent in the works.
The application published on July 5 is entitled "Delivery Reservation Apparatus and Method," and as suggested, it outlines a way for managing package reservations in the context of the purchaser not being available to actually receive it.
It's the latest blockchain retail supply chain "smart delivery" intellectual property play from the retail giant, which in the past year has submitted a number of U.S. patent applications in this area. Indeed, the company seems to be looking at the technology as a way to automate elements of the delivery process, but to date, much of the company's public-facing work with blockchain has been focused on food supply chain tracking.
In the newly released filing, Walmart detail system of delivery lockers – located at a person's home, transportation hub or other location – that can safeguard the delivered items until their recipients can come and actually sign for them. Blockchain fits into...