Banks and bitcoin are odd bedfellows, but they do share some things in common. To its proponents, bitcoin is the future of money, but it still takes "traditional" money to purchase cryptocurrency, and right now, banks control the conduits. If these oligarchs have their way, they'll also have a controlling stake in the crypto sphere eventually, as the latest patent data shows.

Banks Can't Get Enough of Blockchain

Bankers, together with the rest of the traditional investment world, missed the boat with bitcoin. Save for a few notable exceptions, they didn't believe the internet funny money peddled by anarchists and cypherpunks would catch on. At first, they were right. But then, following a few false starts, it did. Big time. Now, the banking sector and Wall Street at large can't get enough of bitcoin, whether it's launching futures trading desks, acquiring exchanges (such as the Goldman Sachs-affiliated Circle takeover of Poloniex), or even launching their own blockchains.

Financial Companies Have Filed 150 Cryptocurrency Patents

As news.Bitcoin.com reported two weeks ago, banks are among the most prolific filers of cryptocurrency patents, with Bank of America leading the charge. This suggests a couple of things. Firstly, that major banks quietly admire bitcoin and the blockchain that powers it. And secondly that they may have dropped the ball with bitcoin, but are determined to make up for lost time. Their ethos now seems to be "If you can't beat them, join them". Of course, just because Bank of America is merrily filing cryptocurrency patents doesn't mean it's about to launch its own $BOA coin.

Bitcoin Patent Report has compiled a list of companies within the banking sector that have been prolific on the cryptocurrency front. Aside from Bank of America, which heads the list, there are some other intriguing entrants that make the top 10. All are multinationals; Toronto-Dominion Bank has 85,000 employees for example, and Fidelity another 45,000. These are the sort of institutions with the means to assign a project team to blockchain and throw some money at it "just in case". Should they succeed in creating the next cutting-edge consensus algorithm, or devise a blockchain with insanely high throughput, the bank – thanks to the patent applied – will profit. And if nothing comes of the venture, well, it's a drop in the bucket to them.