The US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has published cryptocurrency-related patent applications filed by Bank of America last June.

The list includes Cryptocurrency Offline Vault Storage System, Cryptocurrency Transformation System, Cryptocurrency Transaction Validation System, Cryptocurrency Electronic Payment System, Cryptocurrency Suspicious User Alert System, Cryptocurrency Aggregation System, Cryptocurrency Online Vault Storage System, Cryptocurrency Transaction Payment System, and Cryptocurrency Real-Time Conversion System.

Though no official statements on their cryptocurrency projects have been made by Bank of America over the 18-month period, the Bank was among the first ones to openly discuss bitcoin digital currency and claim that cryptocurrencies had “clear potential for growth” back in 2013.

The bank is also participating in the work of R3, the international consortium developing blockchain, though the technology has not been referenced in the patent applications a single time.

The patent application entitled Cryptocurrency Suspicious User Alert System has gained major attention from cryptocurrency users for revealing the bank's intention to detect “suspicious transactions” by analysing associated user profile. According to the original text, IP addresses and public keys of the user's location and the location of a third party will also be taken into account.

Bank of America is not the first to seek USPTO patent for its inventions in cryptotechnology sphere. Earlier this year the application Cryptographic Currency For Securities Settlement filed by Goldman Sachs was published by the USPTO, describing “the methods for settling securities in financial markets using distributed, peer-to-peer, and cryptographic techniques,” and 21 Inc. applied for digital currency mining circuitry patent.

Maria Rudina