on the crypto
The Chinese tech giant, Alibaba Group (Alibaba shares - ticker: BABA), owns the highest number of blockchain patents registered this year, according to a report by KISSPatent. The company submitted ten times more applications than the second-ranked company, IBM.
DLT patents on the crest of the wave in 2020
The world of blockchain and cryptography in general is expanding, with many more patents registered in the first half of this year than in all of 2019. Despite the conflicting views of some analysts expressed in the past, Distributed Ledger (DLT) patents Technology) and cryptocurrencies are more intriguing than ever in 2020. Some experts claimed, in 2019, that Nchain and Bank of America held all possible patents in this area.
Alibaba Group broke its own record
2020 has brought great changes in many sectors. The new report from KISSPatent shows that, by the end of the year, Alibaba Group will be the owner with the highest number of patents in the crypto-blockchain sector. The group is expected to overtake IBM by December.
The Chinese tech giant and IBM are strong rivals in this race, but Alibaba has managed to beat IBM by filing ten times more patent applications in 2020 than the patents registered by IBM in 2018.
Other companies in the ranking
Alibaba Group would therefore be in first place for 2020, followed by IBM in second place, and then Mastercard, Nchain and Walmart, according to the report released by KISSPatent. The study authors say that DLT companies are not on the list of major patent owners. The reason for this is that such companies often do not require patent registration.
This interesting observation comes from KISSPatent researcher, Dr. Graeser. He pointed out that the only DLT specialist on this list is Nchain, where the infamous Craig Wright works, who claims to be the creator of Bitcoin. Nchain's data comes from the company's press releases or official announcements which, according to KISSPatent, may not always be truthful and transparent.
The list of companies is not complete
The KISSPatent research team admitted that this list is not complete as it does not include companies like Webank or Tencent (ticker: TCEHY). The confirmation of this came from a report by the China Daily which states that some Chinese companies are not on the list, pointing to the two mentioned above and also Reechain.
KISSPatent's estimate is that Alibaba Group has over 1500 patents and IBM has 240. The China Daily points out that Tencent, Webank and Reechain should be ahead of IBM on this list.
