This new system could be especially advantageous for the retail sector, according to the filing. Many cryptocurrencies are too volatile and too slow to become an effective payments solution. Few merchants can feasibly accept a payments method that takes hours to process when the value may swing wildly.
Payments provider Square has won a U.S. patent for a new network that enables seamless crypto-to-fiat transactions.
Granted Tuesday by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, the patent details a payments system allowing users holding different asset types to transact with one another in real-time.
«The present technology permits a first party to pay in any currency, while permitting the second party to be paid in any currency,» reads Square’s application. The network itself can automatically exchange the sender’s payment into the asset specified by the receiver.
But Square thinks it can «remove barriers» with a system that features automatic exchange and real-time settlements. Consumers can pay in their preferred asset – using a privacy coin to keep their identities secret, for example – and merchants receive the full value in an asset they want to hold.
The patent suggests the system could be extended to add support for other asset classes including securities, derivatives or loans.
Square integrated bitcoin in 2018 and Dorsey has said multiple times he believes BTC could become the «native currency» for the internet. Square has generally been reticent on other cryptocurrencies. Asked if the firm planned to add support for other digital coins, the head of the cryptocurrency team said last summer the team remained focused on bitcoin and would continue supporting its network development and mass adoption.
Square also announced in a blog post Tuesday it would be releasing a «Lightning Development Kit», enabling wallet and app developers to create layer-2 solutions on top of the bitcoin protocol.
Jack Dorsey Backs $10 Million Round for Token Offering Platform CoinList
Token offering platform CoinList has raised $10 million with backing from Twitter and Square CEO Jack Dorsey.
CoinList announced Wednesday the closing of a funding round led by Polychain Capital and joined by Dorsey and Collaborative Fund. The capital will go towards the further development of CoinList Trade, a new exchange platform, along with a crypto wallet, according to the Wall Street Journal and a company Medium post. The latest funding round follows a 2018 Series A joined by Polychain Capital and Digital Currency Group, among others.
Dorsey’s investment is reportedly his first in the platform, which the WSJ said has helped companies raise some $800 million in tokens since August 2017. A vocal bitcoin proponent, Dorsey launched a bitcoin-only developer arm at Square earlier this year and has recently come out as decidedly against the Facebook-initiated Libra project, which he said was “not consistent” with Twitter’s values.
In a statement to the Journal, Dorsey said the San Francisco-based firm presents an honest solution for coin launches.
“Crypto needs a trustworthy platform for launching new projects. CoinList leads the industry in that role, and trading is a logical next step.”
Launching in May 2017, CoinList helps firms navigate regulatory rules concerning initial coin offerings (ICOs), a popular capital acquisition vehicle for emerging projects. Projects Blockstack, Algorand, Filecoin and Dfinity have all leveraged the firm for token offerings and distributions. CoinList’s exchange is initially operating in 38 states and some international jurisdictions with support for cryptocurrencies bitcoin (BTC), ether (ETH), algorand (ALGO) and USD Coin (USDC).
ICOs continue to be a prime target for the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Earlier this month, messaging platform Telegram’s token distribution was held up following an emergency restraining order by the regulator over the firm’s $1.4 billion offering. The SEC and Telegram are set to go to court over the token issuance Feb. 18–19.
