Bank of America Blockchain Patent Application Contributor Calls Them “Meaningless”

Despite Multiple Blockchain Patent Applications from Bank of America, Former Senior VP Calls Them “Meaningless”

The cryptocurrency industry is filled with individual platforms and tokens, but one of the biggest ways that the industry has been making headlines lately is with the addition of banks and other institutions. One of the most popular banks lately has been Bank of America, which has filed dozens of patents in the name of blockchain technology and even cryptocurrency research.

Bank of America is presently the second-largest financial institution in the country, and they most recently filed a patent that would allow them to develop a storage system for cryptocurrency online. This application is an expansion on a patent that they filed back in 2014, but it seems that the fomer Senior Vice President doesn’t think any of these patents will come to fruition.

In a post on Twitter, Michael Wuehler notes that he has his name as the inventor of 8 out of the 50 patents. He comments:

My name is on 8 of the 50 Blockchain patents filed by BofA and from my perspective they are meaningless other than making for press releases and public perception of innovation. https://t.co/5OUzbg7qKx

— Michael Wuehler (@wuehler) August 25, 2018

Until now, investors and bank account users alike have been excited about these advancements, but this post puts a damper on the enthusiasm.

Wuehler’s LinkedIn profile suggests that he worked at Bank of America for over a decade. He was the senior Vice President of the company when he left in 2016, which seems to be in an effort to collaborate with ConsenSys, which was founded by Joseph Lubin. He also co-founded a project that ConsenSys backed, which is called Infura and it works to support developers that are looking to scale their projects for blockchain technology. Eventually, he became the founder of Ethereum NYC as well, which has grown to over 6,000 participants.

No one can ignore the fact that Bank of America has been openly against cryptocurrency for quite a while, despite the attempts to attract positive attentions with their patent applications. Bank of America prohibits customers from purchasing tokens with bank-issued cards, which is a similar move to what JPMorgan and Merrill Lynch have done. Furthermore, the bank has called cryptocurrency adoption a threat to their infrastructure.

Only time will tell is Wuehler’s claims ring true.