The People’s Bank of China (PBOC) has applied for a total of 63 patents in relation to digital currencies, as it pursues research into the development of its own form of virtual money.
On 22 June the State Intellectual Property Office announced that PBOC’s Digital Currency Research Institute had applied for a patent for its “Digital Currency Transaction Information Inquiry Method and Inquiry System” (“数字货币交易信息的查询方法和查询系统).
The Digital Currency Research Institute has submitted a total of 63 patent applications since its establishment several years ago, including 57 in 2017 and six in 2018.
Four of the patent applications involve digital currency wallets, which play a vital role for blockchain-based forms of virtual money.
PBOC established a research institute for the development of Digital Currency Electronic Payment (DC/EP) several years ago during the tenure of former governor Zhou Xiaochuan.
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