Patent filings in the blockchain field have tripled in the past year. China last year applied for 225 blockchain patents, the highest in the world, and 59 in 2016; followed by the United States, 91 in the previous year and 21 in 2016; The third is Australia, with 13 items in the year and 19 in 2016. Patent applications specifically related to cryptocurrency (not included in the blockchain patent category) increased by 16% in 2017 to 602 items.
Of the nine organizations that applied for blockchain patents between 2012 and 2017, six were from China. MasterCard, the US-based payment giant, was the most active company in the same period and filed 25 applications, while Liechtenstein nChain Holdings submitted 18 applications. The company claims to be the 'global leader in blockchain technology research and development'.
Thomson Reuters stated that recent blockchain patent applications include: Bank of America provides a convenient technology for a patent based on an aliased P2P payment; BT Group probes a blockchain attack The method applies for a patent; MasterCard applies for a blockchain-based method of tracking point-of-sale payments.
Of course, not all companies apply for patents for their inventions, and not all patents bring viable products or uses. But Thomson Reuters said that these figures are significant because they indicate activities and may be manufactured. Barriers to Entry.
Blockchain technology, Blockchain technology, is now very popular. It is also known as distributed ledger technology. It is an Internet database technology. It is characterized by decentralization, openness and transparency, so that everyone can participate in database records. Bitcoin is one of the earliest and most mature applications of blockchain technology.
Many companies and organizations are exploring the use of blockchain. For example, tracking China's stocking of broiler chickens, tracking the whole process of selling chickens raised from hundreds of farms across China from chicks to commercial sale; IBM and shipping giant Maersk hope to pass the district Blockchain technology digitizes the supply chain process from start to finish to help manage and track tens of millions of containers worldwide; Australia's major stock exchange ASX plans to use blockchain technology to process domestic stock trading, allowing large amounts of data Sharing becomes more efficient, saving customers money, and more.