Bank of America applied to the US Patent and Trademark Office to register a vault system which will safeguard cryptocurrencies. In simpler terms: it’s a crypto wallet which is kept in a bank.
The proposition is based on the assumption that crypto related transactions are becoming mainstream and companies with a large volume of transactions might consider relying on the safety of a bank to keep their crypto assets.
It contradicts the first rule of cryptocurrency: “the safety of your asset is your responsibility”. However, trusting a bank with virtual assets can be intriguing for reluctant and skeptical investors.
According to the document, this is a continuation of another application by James G. Ronca. Back in 2014, James G. Ronca, an inventor who has a dozen applications and patents for Bank of America, applied for a very similar concept.
Some of his patent applications are:
- Cryptocurrency transformation system — filed at June 16, 2014; Assignee: Bank of America Corporation
- Distributed processing of a check image -—filed at August 9, 2012; Assignee: Bank of America Corporation
- Cryptocurrency Aggregation System — June 16, 2014 (pending)
- Cryptocurrency Online Vault Storage System — filed at June 16, 2014 (pending)
WHY IS IT IMPORTANT?
- It is a significant step for Bank of America, paving the way for other banks to get involved in wallet services.
- Most crypto enthusiasts are into it because they don’t find banks to be trustworthy and would like to stay out of the system as much as possible.
- In the upcoming months, we will see how the crypto world reacts to such vault services.