Paypal Files Patent For New System Allowing Faster Cryptocurrency Transactions
Paypal is currently looking to new technology in order to boost transaction speeds for cryptocurrency payments. The company recently filed a patent for a so-called "Expedited Virtual Currency Transaction System."
The patent, which was published on March 1 by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, detailed a method by which private keys are swapped between a buyer and seller behind the scenes. These keys comprise of strings of numbers and letters used to transact or otherwise control one's cryptocurrency holdings.
The concept's main goal is to slash a large chunk from the time it takes for payments to go through between a consumer and a merchant. This removes the process of sending the transaction having to wait for it to be included in the next block on the network.
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"Issues like this have slowed the adoption of virtual currencies despite their advantages" the patent states. "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."
Transaction speeds have long been the reason why many merchants shied away from Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. Solving this particular issue will help digital currencies gain more mainstream acceptance while at the same time, allow Paypal to profit from the booming cryptocurrency market.
To do this, Paypal will have to create secondary wallets with their own unique set of private keys for buyers and sellers. These keys would then be transferred between parties in accordance with the exact amount of cryptocurrencies exchanged.
The filing comes years after the payment processing company announced their deals with various Bitcoin payment processors that allowed merchants to accept Bitcoin payments through their payment hub.
It should be noted that back in February, chief financial officer John Rainey spoke favorably of Bitcoin saying that it could be "used every day." Paypal co-founder Peter Thiel is also a known enthusiast of Bitcoin having invested heavily in the cryptocurrency via Founders Fund, the venture capital company he also co-founded.
