The US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has published in late August 2017 nine additional patent applications related to Blockchain technology that was filed by Bank of America.
The patents, which relate to the carrying out and settling transactions within a payment network, were all filed on Feb. 22, 2017.
So far, the bank has already filed over 30 Blockchain technology-based patent applications, including as many as 18 in 2016.
The applications reflect the efforts done by the bank in its bid to adopt Blockchain-based payment systems in its operations.
Blockchain-based patents already filed by the bank
The various patents already filed by the bank mainly focused on the whole cryptocurrency exchange and payment process.
Among them were the areas of real-time conversion, transaction validation, risk detection, and online and offline storage.
The other patents involved the use of distributed ledgers to validate the factualness of information and those who handle it, as well as a peer-to-peer payment system that operates on the Blockchain.
Bank of America’s Blockchain project with Microsoft
In September 2016, the bank has partnered with technology firm Microsoft for a joint project aimed at developing and testing Blockchain applications for trade finance.
Under the deal, the bank will collaborate directly with Microsoft Treasury for the creation of Blockchain system that can speed up transactions between the partners.
The partners have already hinted that they are already testing how the system can facilitate the letter of credit process.
However, there are no signs yet from the partners on whether they have developed something that could be launched on a commercial scale from the project.
The pace in which Bank of America has been filing Blockchain-based patent applications hints that the bank could also be pursuing other intellectual property fields in the Blockchain technology industry and are in it for the long term.
