Bank of America into Blockchain?
Yes that's right, in an interview with Bloomberg Bank of America C.E.O Brian Moynihan was asked what he though about the cryptocurrency Bitcoin, but he was quickly off the topic and begun talking about the blockchain instead. Moynihan begun to express that he believed in blockchain technology, smart contracts and distributed ledgers. He stated that the subject of digital currencies was a grey area due to the lack of policy "but blockchain were all for."
The Bank of America was included in a study conducted by EnvisionIP, which researched all government patent databases to identify how many "blockchain" related ones. The investigation turned up approximately 1045 patents under this relation, submitted by a total of 478 entities. The Bank of America owns a total of 102 of these patents, 27 with "blockchain in the title, 36 with " bitcoin" and 39 with "blockchain" written in them. It is the largest holder of such patents among banks, with others on the list being Wells Fargo.
EnvisionIP's Study of Who Owns Blockchain Patents
59% Blockchain specific
20% Financial Institutions
13% Traditional Technology Firms
8 % Gaming and Entertainment
So it's quite shocking to see that over 40% of all these patents belong to entities both private and public outside of the blockchain specific sector of cryptocurrencies. But this is a good thing, as it shows just how promising that this technology really is, and how multiple industries are finding utilization's for it. At the ends of the day there is always a new stage of progression in technological infrastructure that revolutionizes communication, finance, It and all other industries and those who don't use it make themselves obsolete. And this volume of patency indicates such a trend is sentiment within political and corporate hierarchy
Bear in mind that these were the patents issued at the time of the study, and as a patent can take up to 18 months to be verified and implemented there will be more in the pipeline . by precedent banks do not usually pursue patents, but the last few years have seen more aggressive implementation of them, indicating a future for blockchain tech without a doubt.