Barclays applies for two US blockchain patents
Barclays Bank has shown it is not standing still in the development of blockchain technology after it filed on Thursday two applications for patents that it hopes may enable smoother fund transfers and compliance with know-your-customer rules.
Barclays applies for two US patents using blockchain technology
The US Patent and Trademark Office published a pair of applications from the UK’s second-largest bank – both addressing issues of security – using blockchain’s distributed ledger technology.
Know your customer
Patent application number 20180205537 described a system for “storing and endorsing data describing a person or company”. It added that the present process was manual, laborious, often involving duplication of effort and open to fraud.
“Therefore, there is required a method and system that overcomes such problems, provides a more reliable form of verification without substantially increasing technical overheads and improves the operation of computing environments and telecommunications networks.”
Payments transactions
Patent application number 20180204191 described a system for “transferring digital currency from a payer to recipient” using blockchain technology.
The applications came just two days after Barclays announced the appointment Rob Cameron as its global head of payment acceptance.
On joining the team, Cameron said: Barclays has a tremendous track record in the industry which I’ve watched closely for years. I’m thrilled to be joining a team with such a depth of talent, the capabilities to innovate and execute at a global scale and am enthusiastic about the future of the business.”
NTT applies for contract system patent
Japanese telecoms group Nippon Telegraph and Telephone (NTT) also published a blockchain-based patent application with the US office on Thursday for a new contract agreements system.
The company said it could potentially use the system to encrypt and store contracts and verify them more simply. Patent number 20180205555 described and invention using “blockchain as evidence of a contract made among a plurality of parties”.