The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has published that Visa has filed a patent application to create digital currency on a centralized computer using blockchain technology. This patent applies to digital dollars as well as other central bank digital currencies such as pounds, yen, and euros and so the physical currency of a central bank anywhere in the world could be digitized.
Described as ‘Digital Fiat Currency’ the patent was initially filed by Visa on November 8, 2019, with the USPTO commenting, “It takes quite a while…” to publish the filing of a patent. Visa’s patent is described as a central entity computer that receives requests that include the serial number and denomination of a physical currency. The creation of the digital currency and the removal of the physical currency from circulation in a fiat currency system is recorded on a blockchain.
“Visa has a vast global team of inventors and innovators working on cutting edge payment technologies. Each year we seek patents for hundreds of new ideas,” says a Visa spokesperson. “While not all patents will result in new products or features, Visa respects intellectual property and we are actively working to protect our ecosystem, our innovations and the Visa brand.”
J. Christopher Giancarlo, Senior Counsel at Willkie Farr and Gallagher and former Chairman of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission, commented on Visa’s patent filed with the USPTO: ‘This confirms when the U.S. does big things like the space program and the Internet, there are partnerships between the private and public sector. This patent filing is evidence the private sector is very much at work on the future of money.” Giancarlo has been very active at the virtual ‘Consensus Distributed’ conference this week hosted by Coindesk.
The full abstract of the patent filed by Visa is described as, “Techniques are disclosed which include receiving, by a central entity computer, a request for digital currency. The request includes a serial number and a denomination of a physical currency. The central entity computer generates the digital currency for the denomination and linked to the serial number.” Visa’s patent goes on to state, “The generating includes recording the digital currency on a blockchain. The central entity computer transmits a notification of the generation of the digital currency. The central entity computer causes removal of the physical currency from circulation in a fiat currency system.” An image of the patent filing is listed below.
