Craig Wright Applied for 70 patents on Bitcoin – what does this mean

More than 70 applications are available for Bitcoin, behind which is the supposed inventor Craig Wright. If patents are issued, the consequences for banks who want to work with the technology.

The presumptive Bitcoin inventor wants to have the online currency and the underlying so-called blockchain technology patented. Australian computer expert Craig Wright has filed more than 70 patents in the United Kingdom, according to Reuters. According to Wright, there will be up to 400 applications. No patent has yet been granted.

IP rights to blockchain could make it difficult for banks to use this encryption technology for their business. Thus Deutsche Bank is experimenting with the British HSBC and other institutions with trade finance via blockchain. In addition, numerous casinos are working on their own cyber currencies. Deutsche Börse intends to use this technology for securities transactions.
Salons for Mr. and Mrs. Schweizer

In a TV interview, Wright appeared as a man behind the inventor’s pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto in 2016. It is unclear, however, whether the Australian has really developed Bitcoin. The patent applications, however, point to a profound knowledge of the functioning of blockchain.

For a long time, only Computerfreaks with Bitcoin knew anything about it. Almost a decade after its founding, the digital currency is also slowly becoming salonable for Mr. and Mrs. Schweizer. In the US, Bitcoin’s first listed fund (ETF) is in the starting holes. According to experts, this would be the breakthrough for the currency, which in the past was mostly concerned about money laundering or illegal arms trafficking. “Bitcoin is slowing down the grim image,” says Professor Philipp Sandner of the Frankfurt School of Finance & Management. “The approval of the ETF would have a signal effect and confidence in the crypto currency would increase strongly.”

Bitcoin is a digital currency that can be generated by means of highly complex mathematical algorithms by computer and can be converted into real money at special online exchanges. As opposed to classical currencies such as the dollar or the euro, there are no governments and central banks for the Bitcoin, which has existed since 2009, and is determined solely by supply and demand.

To date, Bitcoin has been popular in China, but more and more companies and organizations in Europe and the US are opening up: Greenpeace is making donations in the cyclic currency, while Dell is able to buy customers and residents of the Swiss city of Zug Have the opportunity to pay at the town hall via smartphone with Bitcoin. Large banks such as the Swiss UBS and Deutsche Bank are working on the development of their own cyber currencies.
Bitcoin course is targeting 2000 dollars

Experts are now eagerly looking into the US: The stock exchange supervisor SEC will decide on 11 March whether the «Winklevoss Bitcoin Trust ETF» will be approved. The application has been in the drawer for nearly four years, the SEC has repeatedly postponed approval because of the complexity of the entire cyber-currency issue. The fact that the ETF actually sees the light of the world is, according to industry connoisseurs, therefore, no matter. But if it comes to this, the interest would be enormous, FinTech analyst Spencer Bogart from the investment bank Needham & Co is sure. “Just in the first week after the start of the ETF, it could reach some 300 million dollars and the bitcoin rate would rise massively – and that is still conservatively estimated.”

Currently, a bitcoin costs around 1230 dollars, as much as never before. A year ago, investors had to shell out just one third of it to cover bitcoins. Speculations on the early approval of the Winklevoss ETF catapulted the course over the past seven weeks by about 60 percent – unthinkable in dollars or euros.

Critics say: “One big problem with bitcoin is the variability,” says BayernLB analyst Manuel Andersch. Course gains or losses of 40 per cent in a few hours were still normal a few years ago. In the meantime, however, such great movements have become rare. “The entire crypto-currency industry is growing out of its children’s shoes, it has become safer and investors have more confidence in them,” says Professor Sandner. He can imagine that the course for a Bitcoin 2017 still the brand of 2000 dollars cracks.
Comeback of the Winklevoss twins

Behind the planned ETF the twins Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, the Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg reproach, that he had stolen their idea for the billionaire online network. After the long dispute with Zuckerberg, the former rowing Olympionics got a compensation of 65 million dollars and have now made it their task to make Bitcoin accessible to the general public. They are already running the Bitcoin stock exchange Gemini.

So far, especially heavily rich families and special hedge funds are investing money in Bitcoin. When the SEC approves the ETF, investment in investment funds, asset managers and private individuals is much easier than before, says the head of the broker Cryptocompare, Charles Hayter, who specializes in digital currency. “That would stabilize the currency.”

But what happens if the government does not give the green light? Then, with the Bitcoin course, it is likely to go downhill, believes Andersch from BayernLB. “But it will only be a brief setback. The issue of bitcoin has now arrived with investors and it is only a matter of time before there are more opportunities to invest in the currency. »
by AFP