Alibaba tops list of companies filing blockchain patents, IBM second

A recent research on blockchain patents revealed that Chinese internet giant Alibaba is at the top with a total of 90 patent applications focused on blockchain-related technologies. iPR Daily, a media outlet specialising in intellectual property, consolidated information from patent databases as of August 10 from countries such as China, US, Europe, Japan and South Korea and International Patent System from the World Intellectual Property Organisation.

The second place is occupied by IBM, with 89 applications, MasterCard occupies third place with 80 applications, Bank of America is in the fourth place, with 53 blockchain patent applications and The People's Bank of China (PBoC) ranks fifth with four applications, as per a report in Coindesk.

The PBoC is one of the few central banks in the world which has adopted blockchain in its planned central bank digital currency. The patents are a part of its major effort to create a digital currency combining core features of cryptocurrency and the existing monetary system.

China and the US are leading the global drive to develop blockchain applications. Alibaba recently launched a payments corridor based on a distributed network, for financial transactions for residents living in Hong Kong and the Philippines.

PBoC's Digital Currency Lab filed over 40 patent applications within 12 months of its launch. Other companies that have filed a minimum of 20 blockchain-related patent applications are Tencent, Accenture, Ping An Insurance, Bitmain, Intel, Visa, Sony, Google and China's State Grid Corporation.

Tencent has a pilot project of applications via its WeChat messaging service which uses blockchain to speed up the process of reimbursing corporate employees' expenses.