While the platforms that most cryptocurrencies run on are open source, Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan recently claimed that the company has more patents than anyone else in the blockchain space.
In an interview with Yahoo Finance at the recent World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Moynihan said, “We have more patents, I think, than almost anybody in blockchain."
"We believe in the idea of distributed ledgers, and smart contracts, and all the words you hear about that. We are developing stuff… But it’s not new concepts. The Registry of Motor Vehicles is a distributed ledger. We know who owns a car, we know who owns a house. The idea is that you can do it more electronically, and can do it across borders. The question of an anonymous currency, that’s a policy question that people have to answer but the idea of digital movement of money, and blockchain, we’re all for.”
A spokesperson for Bank of America told Yahoo Finance that the company has 48 patents related to blockchain. A Google patent database search shows that Bank of America owns 27 patents containing the word “blockchain,” 36 for “bitcoin” and 39 under “cryptocurrency.”
Moynihan shares the sentiments of many in the banking industry who hate anonymous cryptocurrency, but see potential in the blockchain technology that makes it possible. As with any technology, this is a tool, which could be easily used in our favor or against us. That is why the battle for the blockchain and the race to innovation is so important.
If used by the people and for the people, blockchain technology could allow us to create financial systems that are resistant to inflation, centralization, and control. But in the banker's hands, it could create the dystopian nightmare that cryptocurrencies set out to prevent.
As James Corbett eloquently said in his recent report, The Bitcoin Psyop, "Yes, the blockchain is truly revolutionary. Yes, bitcoin is Tulipmania 2.0. Yes, cryptocurrency is a nail in the coffin of the bankster parasites. Yes, digital currency is a tool of the totalitarian tyrants. No, these statements are not contradictory."
It is a complex issue that takes daily study to understand and keep up with, but the following report gives a great introduction to the war between decentralization and control that exists in the blockchain landscape.
The banks understand that their whole existence is at stake, so they are working to ride the tides as best as they can and steer the innovation of this technology in a direction that suits their needs, which would be a shift away from anonymity and decentralization. If central banks are able to run a monopoly fiat currency on a blockchain, they will have more power and control than ever. It is highly possible, almost guaranteed, that these interests will attempt to use the force of government to make this happen. As we reported earlier this month, JP Morgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon predicted that governments won't allow decentralized cryptocurrencies to continue on for long.
“There will be no real non-controlled currency in the world. There’s no government that’s gonna put up with it for long,” he said.
Luckily, in many ways it seems that the cat is out of the bag and governments will have a resistance on their hands that is growing by the day. When talks of cryptocurrency regulation hit the news in South Korea this month, over 200,000 people signed a public petition condemning the government for attempting to take away the "happy dream" of financial independence for the everyday people.
"Our people have been able to make a happy dream that they have never had in Korea because of virtual money. People are not stupid. ... virtual money is invested because it is judged to be the fourth revolution," the petition read.
Any government in the world would have a serious fight on their hands if they attempted to ban cryptocurrencies, and it would be an extremely difficult policy for them to enforce even if they tried. If one country bans cryptocurrency, the companies, exchanges, miners and online infrastructure will simply move to another country and the people in that country will still be able to use and access cryptocurrencies using VPN's and anonymous browsers like TOR.
sources:
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/bank-america-ceo-blockchain-patents-almost-anybody-201251192.html
(sources for article are hyperlinked at the site above)
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John Vibes is an author and researcher who organizes a number of large events including the Free Your Mind Conference. He also has a publishing company where he offers a censorship free platform for both fiction and non-fiction writers. John just won a 3-year-long battle with cancer, and will be working to help others through his experience, if you wish to contribute to his medical bills consider subscribing to his podcast to support at https://www.patreon.com/johnvibes