Prepare for battle! The technology itself may still be nascent, but the blockchain patents arms race is already heating up with companies like Microsoft, IBM, Google, even Bank of America all in.
Because if you are going to hedge your bets, best to do it early.
This handy little piece details where things stand right now in the blockchain space, and casts an eye on what some of the biggest companies in the world are gravitating towards in the field of blockchains and distributed ledgers.
Alibaba, for example, has a grand total of 90 patents, with last year turning out to be a particular highlight for the Chinese firm — of the 406 blockchain patents that were applied for in 2017, Alibaba made a move for a rather impressive 10% of them.
Impressive yet, is the fact that of all the patents Alibaba has been involved in acquiring, the majority of them are centered on design and utility.
But while the Chinese company may be leading the way, IBM is not far behind.
Standing right next with 89 separate blockchain patents is the American enterprise giant. IBM acquired 6 patents in July alone, and the firm is clearly at the forefront when it comes to obtaining blockchain related patents.
As one would expect from one of largest tech companies on the planet.
At this point, IBM patents primarily revolved around system innovations and facilitation smoother blockchain operations.
In third place we have MasterCard, with no less than 80 unique patents to its name. The credit card behemoth certainly is not taking the slow and steady approach here.
Unlike Microsoft, which has 20 in its column of blockchain patents. Redmond is mostly focused on applications like Trusted Execution Environments (TEE), with an aim to offer higher levels of security for a mobile operating system and even its Azure cloud platform.
Give the article a read to see which way the wind is blowing, and how these technology titans are preparing for the decentralized world of the future.
