The UK’s Barclays, arguably the most powerful international corporate bank in the world, filed two crypto-related patents this week. The 300 year-old legacy bank gobbled up exclusivity over cryptocurrency transfers and distributed ledger data storage. There appears to be a trend for companies, both in and out of the ecosystem, aiming to lock up the potential of money’s future.
Barclays Files Two Crypto Patents
Maybe it’s a sign of things to come. Barclays, founded in London around the late 17th century, filed two patents with the United States Patent and Trademark Office this week. One concerns a method “and system for transferring digital currency from a payer to recipient comprising receiving an identifier of data describing the first entity,” application number 1511964.7 reads.
The other is a method “and system for recording data describing a first entity, the data endorsed by a second entity comprising the second entity validating data describing the first entity, wherein an identifier is associated with the data, the identifier being generated from a public key of the first entity,” crediting inventors Julian Wilson and David Fulton, both of Cheshire, Great Britain.
It doesn’t get more legacy financial than Barclays. It is a staple on English stock exchanges, along with a definitive seat on the New York Stock Exchange. At least one study published just a few years ago pins it as the most powerful bank in the world.
The bank has been particularly active in the cryptosphere the past two years. Summer of last year, it openly worried about crypto’s threat to its industry. Spring of the present year saw it team with Coinbase, and rumors are it’s considering its own crypto trading desk. The above patents will only add to speculation the bank is positioning itself in light of future fiscal reality.
See more -
https://news.bitcoin.com/barclays-300-year-old-uk-legacy-bank-files-crypto-patents/
