CHARLOTTE, N.C.—Bank of America has filed 10 new cryptocurrency patent applications.
The patents, sources say, provide clues that BofA may be looking at developing a full-fledged cryptocurrency system that coexists with fiat currency.
The 10 patent applications, filed by BofA in June of 2014, were published in December by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
The new applications add to an existing filing for a wire transfer system involving cryptocurrencies by Bank of America, published in September, Cryptocoinsnews.com reported.
The filed patent titles are:
- Cryptocurrency Offline Vault Storage System
- Cryptocurrency Transformation System
- Cryptocurrency Transaction Validation System
- Cryptocurrency Electronic Payment System
- Cryptocurrency Suspicious User Alert System
- Cryptocurrency Aggregation System
- Cryptocurrency Online Vault Storage System
- Cryptocurrency Transaction Payment System
- Cryptocurrency Real-Time Conversion System
“Interestingly, the patents also mention ‘bitcoin’ a total of 17 times in all patent filings, along with other alt currencies such as Litecoins, Dogecoins, Peercoins and more. The mentions were made as fleeting references to cryptocurrencies,” Cryptocoinsnews.com reported.
BofA also joined New York-based startup R3’s blockchain consortium in 2015 to develop and experiment with blockchain technology solutions in collaboration with 41 other banks globally.