Barclays, 300 Year-Old UK Legacy Bank, Files Crypto Patents

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.

Also read: Philippines Embraces Cryptocurrency: Exchanges Issued Provisional Licenses

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.

Patents All Around

This week, no less than Mastercard appears to be flirting with crypto patents. Ecosystem company, Nchain, has steadied in this way, collecting three more recently. Another bank, Bank of America, officially became the crypto patent king this year.  

The Barclays patent, “Secure Digital Data Operations,”  involves retrieving “an entry from a block chain based on the received identifier. Authenticating the entry using a public key of the second entity. Extracting the data describing the first entity from the retrieved entry. Authenticating a block in the block chain containing the entry using a public key of a third entity,” it reads choppily.

Its other patent, “Data Validation and Storage,” seems to be cryptographically “signing data corresponding with the data describing the first entity using at least a private key of the second entity. Posting a transaction to a block chain including the cryptographically signed data. Method and system for obtaining data describing a first entity the data endorsed by a second entity comprising. Receiving an identifier of data describing the first entity. Retrieving an entry from a block chain based on the received identifier. Authenticating the entry using a public key of the second entity. Extracting the data describing the first entity from the retrieved entry,” it listed.

Are patents such as Barclays’ meaningful? Let us know in the comments section below.

Images courtesy of Pixabay, Barclays.

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