Are traditional banks interested in Bitcoin? Bank of America, the second largest bank in the United States, obtains patent for cryptocurrency exchange

Bank of America (BOA), the second largest bank in the United States, has officially been granted a patent for a cryptocurrency exchange. BOA’s conceptual overview of the cryptocurrency trading platform outlines three types of accounts where users and businesses can instantly exchange digital assets.

Bank of America granted patent for cryptocurrency exchange

On December 5, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) granted financial institution Bank of America (BOA) a patent for creating a cryptocurrency exchange. The abstract of the patent describes three types of accounts in this platform system. The first account is provided to consumers to store digital funds. The second and third accounts are called "floating accounts" and allow for fast digital asset exchanges, similar to a centralized Shapeshift concept.

BOA has been one of the most active banks in applying for blockchain and cryptocurrency-related patents over the past year. The bank has previously applied for more than 20 patents, covering everything from digital asset solutions to public and private blockchain concepts. The digital asset trading platform patent was filed in June 2014. The patent, called "Cryptocurrency Conversion System," is explained quite thoroughly in the abstract.

"The system also includes a processor coupled to the memory - the processor is operable to receive an electronic request to exchange currencies and determine an exchange rate for converting currency one into currency two. The processor is also operable to determine an optimal exchange rate."

Although BOA holds the majority of cryptocurrency patents, the bank may still close customer accounts if they trade Bitcoin

Despite BOA’s attempts to acquire numerous blockchain and cryptocurrency patents, the bank is not friendly to Bitcoin traders. The financial institution has come under the spotlight for closing accounts of users who traded Bitcoin. There have also been many cases where BOA closed accounts used by customers to buy cryptocurrencies in apps like Coinbase. In fact, in December this year, a customer received an 8-page document asking about his cryptocurrency use and was asked to fill out documents before his account was closed.

Ironically, the approval of this latest BOA-controlled cryptocurrency exchange patent shows the bank’s favor for digital assets, and the institution may well use this patent to create this exchange platform in the near future.