Bank of America to load up on patents for technology behind bitcoin

The US Patent office has published 10 blockchain-related patents filed by the Bank of America, revealing the bank's interest in using blockchain technology to revamp its backend operations, which, much like other financial institutions, are primarily paper-based. These patents cover everything from a "crypto-currency transaction payment system" to risk detection. Financial institutions are rapidly ramping up their research efforts around blockchain technology; just last week, JPMorgan, the London Stock Exchange, IBM, and Wells Fargo announced the creation of a new consortium, Open Ledger Project, which will focus on allowing businesses to easily build their own blockchain technology.

Over the past week, Microsoft and Bank of America demonstrated their increasing interest and investment into blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies.

Microsoft Azure’s Blockchain as a Service (BaaS) has opened its services to three more technologies, Finance Magnates reports. Last month, Microsoft announced its partnership with Brooklyn-based startup ConsenSys to give companies the ability to experiment with blockchain technology. At that point, the BaaS only supported Etherium technology. The newly added technologies are:

CoinPrism – Offers the first colored bitcoin wallet. (Read more about CoinReport’s story on this announcement here).

Eris Industries – Builds and hosts blockchains, smart contract libraries and blockchain developer training programs.

Factom – Utilizes blockchain technology to create permanent data records for businesses and governments.

While Microsoft increases its available blockchain services, Bank of America is focused on cryptocurrencies. CryptoCoinsNews reports the financial institution filed 10 new patents with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) in June 2014. The patents are titled:

Cryptocurrency Offline Vault Storage System

Cryptocurrency Transformation System

Cryptocurrency Risk Detection System

Cryptocurrency Transaction Validation System

Cryptocurrency Electronic Payment System

Cryptocurrency Suspicious User Alert System

Cryptocurrency Aggregation System

Cryptocurrency Online Vault Storage System

Cryptocurrency Transaction Payment System

Cryptocurrency Real-Time Conversion System

These 10 patents follow another published by the USPTO in September related to using cryptocurrencies in wire transfers.

Image credits:

Microsoft building 17’s front lobby entrance – Public domain image by Derrick Coetzee

Bank of America NYC Tower photo – User Jleon (CC BY-SA 3.0)