In its search for advancement, the Bank of America (BofA) has filed for another patent that rides on blockchain technology, this time one that offers encryption on a secured storage system. Per a patent document titled “Block Chain Encryption Tags” by the U.S. Patent and Trademarks Office (USPTO) August 23, the new patent will enable data security for blockchain networks which record crypto transactions in their blocks.
Fear of Disruption
For long, BofA, America’s second-largest bank, had always made its fear of digital money known, though they quietly researched it, just like other financial institutions.
Unsurprisingly, for a lot of financial institutions, cryptocurrency poises a significant threat to their very existence, as it eliminates the need for an intermediary like a bank between people and their money.
Majority of banks also fear that adoption of blockchain technology into financial services might need a massive expenditure to adapt to the evolving standards, as well as meeting customers demands.
Interestingly, Bank of America made a U-turn on the decision after a long while to become one of the most active banks filing for blockchain and cryptocurrency-related patents over the past few years.
Data to be Secured via Encryption
The original document on the recent patent application was filed on the 16th of April, 2018.
According to the recent publication made available by the U.S Patent and Trademarks Office, the North Carolina based bank has applied for the blockchain patent which will help to assemble different storage system into a ‘large secured consortium’, and channel all of a user’s data into one location.
The patent discussed the possibility of individuals needing banks to help them in creating and safeguarding their digital assets, as well as the involvement of third parties (banks) in transactions involving cryptocurrency, aside from individuals having the private keys with which they previously held their digitals money in e-wallets.
In a nutshell, the encryption process will migrate the incoming set of data elements to the first block on a blockchain, after obtaining an encryption key to ensure security.
This is not the first time the Bank of America has made such a move. As reported by Bloomberg, Bank of America filed for more than 40 blockchain patents during early 2018. As at June, it had made almost 50, thus moving past International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) in the race for blockchain patents.
