The patent war intensifies. DAH applies for a patent for a distributed ledger electronic settlement platform for trading various traditional digital assets

Digital Asset Holdings (DAH) has joined a growing list of startups and existing companies seeking to apply for patents related to distributed ledger technology.

DAH’s patent application, filed in April and published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, is for an ‘intermediary electronic settlement platform’ that can be used to trade a wide range of traditional digital assets on a distributed ledger, including but not limited to a blockchain.

An important difference between the DAH solution and more traditional open source blockchains is that the DAH solution focuses on regulatory requirements and various requirements for network nodes.

The patent document shows:

“Some nodes, such as signing servers, may store only a haphazard copy of a distributed blockchain.”

In addition to providing a modified version of how a distributed node would operate, the patent makes clear that it is designed to be used as a more regulation-friendly method for trading numerous types of assets, including fungible assets, asset ownership references and other obligations and authorizations.

In particular, the settlement platform includes nodes capable of storing a complete version of the data history on a multi-interface server, a client, a retention unit, a cache unit, and a coordination unit coupled to the data server.

However, this is not the only difference between the DAH platform and public blockchains.

The web platform also includes several provisions that help make it easier for users of the platform to comply with required transparency, risk management and regulatory standards.

The patent application states:

“Using a digital asset intermediary electronic settlement platform, in accordance with the principles of the present invention concept, a trusted third party can continue to monitor and exercise control over digital asset behavior without having to become a legal custodian. This allows users to truly control their assets, and the trusted third party can continue to perform legal actions and provide settlement efficiency.

Fertile soil

Until recently, DAH, a New York startup that has raised more than $60 million in funding, seemed to have focused on using blockchain to help other companies create their own proofs of concept, including the DTCC in March and, more recently, Six Securities.

However, with the publication of this patent application, DAH's next development direction may become clearer. (DAH has not yet responded further)

On the same day that patent application number 62178315 was published, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office also published a patent application filed by Nasdaq for a ‘closed blockchain’ order booking and matching engine. Both patents focus on methods of recording data and executing transactions on a blockchain.

In August of this year, Coindesk published an article, ‘The Looming Blockchain Patent War’, which highlighted that there were more than 60 patents related to blockchain at the time.

The number has now reached 74 and continues to rise. A search for the word Bitcoin shows 547 patent applications.