PayPal has no intention of being left behind as the new crypto tech wave makes a transforming sweep across everything on its path.
The giant payments company servicing millions around the world has just recently filed a patent application aimed at achieving faster speed for cryptocurrency payments.
The patent was titled: “Expedited Virtual Currency Transaction System,” and the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) made the patent public upon its application on March 1st.
Among other details, the publication contains information regarding a behind the scenes method where the private keys of a buyer and seller are swapped to effect a transaction. Private keys consist of strings of numbers and letters with which the owner can carry out transactions or otherwise control their cryptocurrency funds.
The new patent application is aiming to drastically reduce transaction speed. The PayPal patent application intends for consumers and merchants to carry-on with their transactions without having to be limited by block time .and network speed. This model would certainly be a departure from the currently limited functionality of bitcoin.
To achieve this, PayPal’s proposed solution involved creation of secondary wallets for consumers and merchants. These wallets are to have unique private keys. The unique private keys are tied to a particular amount. When a transaction occurs, said keys are swapped based on the amount involved.
An excert from the patent application reads:
“The systems and methods of the present disclosure practically eliminate the amount of time the payee must wait to be sure they will receive a virtual currency payment in a virtual currency transaction by transferring to the payee private keys that are included in virtual currency wallets that are associated with predefined amounts of virtual currency that equal a payment amount identified in the virtual currency transaction.”
PayPal played with the idea of partnering with some bitcoin payment companies in 2014. It seems that PayPal has gathered enough IP to implement blockchain technology to its own payment services offering.PayPal’s cofounder Peter Thiel is a big time crypto investor through a VC firm he cofounded, Founders Fund.
