JPMorgan files patent for Bitcoin-style payment system

[mick silver]

JP Morgan files for anonymous online payment system http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-25326289http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/71385000/jpg/_71385630_180991378.jpgA US Senate committee hearing was told in November virtual currencies such as Bitcoin were a "legitimate financial service"
Continue reading the main story (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-25326289#story_continues_1)Related Stories

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US bank JP Morgan Chase has filed for a patent in the US to develop a payment system using "virtual cash", similar to the emerging online currency, Bitcoin.
JP Morgan said that, like Bitcoin, the features of the electronic system would let users make payments "completely anonymously".
It added that users would not have the "expense of today's wiring fees".
But in its application (http://appft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO2&Sect2=HITOFF&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsearch-bool.html&r=1&f=G&l=50&co1=AND&d=PG01&s1=20130317984&OS=20130317984&RS=20130317984), the bank said traditional credit cards would dominate for "at least the next five years".
The bank noted: "None of the emerging efforts to date have gotten more than a toehold in the market place and momentum continues to build in favour of credit cards."
Analysts say the move comes as banks, credit card companies and online payments firms such as PayPal are trying to gain dominance as people make more of their financial transactions online.
JP Morgan's patent application comes after China banned its banks from handling transactions involving Bitcoins.
China said Bitcoin was not backed by any nation or central authority.
Bitcoin's price has more than trebled in value since October.
It increased further in November, when a US Senate committee hearing was told virtual currencies were a "legitimate financial service", with the same pros and cons as other online payment systems.

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27 NOVEMBER 2013, TECHNOLOGY
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20 NOVEMBER 2013, BUSINESS
'Legitimate' Bitcoin's value soars (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-24986264)
19 NOVEMBER 2013, TECHNOLOGY


From other news sites

[mick silver]

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By Tracy Alloway in New York


http://im.ft-static.com/content/images/44952f4a-91e8-4223-b1e6-49b5b9ab850e.img
JPMorgan Chase (http://markets.ft.com/tearsheets/performance.asp?s=us:JPM) has filed a US patent application for a computerised payment system that resembles some aspects ofBitcoin (http://www.ft.com/intl/indepth/bitcoin), the controversial virtual currency.
Like Bitcoin, JPMorgan’s proposed system would allow people to make anonymous, electronic payments over the internet, without having to reveal their name or account numbers or pay a fee, according to the patent application (http://appft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO2&Sect2=HITOFF&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsearch-bool.html&r=1&f=G&l=50&co1=AND&d=PG01&s1=20130317984&OS=20130317984&RS=20130317984).








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The application put a spotlight on the behind-the-scenes battle being waged between the biggest banks, credit card operators and companies such as Google (http://markets.ft.com/tearsheets/performance.asp?s=us:GOOG),Apple (http://markets.ft.com/tearsheets/performance.asp?s=us:AAPL) and PayPal – are all keen to grab a slice of the rapidly expanding business of providing mobile and internet payments as more people shift to online buying.
At the same time, traditional finance companies have had to contend with new types of virtual currencies, which some people view as viable alternative payment systems that could one day challenge the biggest banks and credit cards.
JPMorgan said in its patent application – which dates back to 1999 but was recently updated – that the new payment system would compete with debit and credit cards as the predominant way of making online transactions.
But some see the bank’s proposed payments technology as borrowing features from Bitcoin (http://letstalkbitcoin.com/jpmorgan-chase-building-bitcoin-killer/#.UqdIfvRDtAJ), to date the most prominent of the new crop of virtual currencies.
The price of Bitcoin has soared to more than $1,240 this year as investors have piled in to the fast-appreciating crypto-currency.
JPMorgan’s proposed system involves creating “virtual cash” that would sit in an online wallet, reminiscent of the computer files that hold Bitcoins on behalf of their users.
The JPMorgan system would also create a public record of transactions made using the technology – a feature that would appear to mirror Bitcoin’s use of “blockchain”, a massive block of code stored across a peer-to-peer network of computers that acts as a public ledger of all Bitcoin transactions.
In depthBitcoin (http://www.ft.com/indepth/bitcoin)

http://im.ft-static.com/content/images/b4e3dc3e-bd73-11e2-a735-00144feab7de.img
Increased trading in the decentralised virtual currency has begun to attract the attention of regulators

While the bank does not name Bitcoin or any other virtual currencies in its patent application, it does hint at “emerging efforts” to challenge the dominance of credit card technology.
“While new internet payment mechanisms have been rapidly emerging, consumers and merchants have been happily conducting a growing volume of commerce using basic credit card functionality,” JPMorgan said in the application.
“None of the emerging efforts to date have gotten more than a toehold in the market place and momentum continues to build in favour of credit cards.”
Critics of Bitcoin added that JPMorgan’s move also highlighted the vulnerability of the new virtual currency to imitations. Already, new types of virtual currencies (http://ftalphaville.ft.com/2013/11/27/1707542/the-litecoin-disruption/) have emerged that attempt to improve on Bitcoin’s perceived weaknesses.
A person familiar with the original JPMorgan patent said that it had “discussed ideas about different way that payments could evolve in the future.” The notion of providing anonymous payments was first inserted in 2003 and continued to be considered internally.

[mick silver]

A person familiar with the original JPMorgan patent said that it had “discussed ideas about different way that payments could evolve in the future.” The notion of providing anonymous payments was first inserted in 2003 and continued to be considered internally.

[Horn]

First they crackdown on money laundering with .gov assist until almost now non-existent (except in their case),

then they allow it through patents pulled from the same governments they are destroying the attached economies to.

Its good to be the king...

[mick silver]

Washington warns Bitcoin, Get a lobbyist and pay us (or else)By Nick Sorrentino (http://www.againstcronycapitalism.org/author/nick-sorrentino/) on August 23, 2013 http://www.againstcronycapitalism.org/2013/08/washington-warns-bitcoin-get-a-lobbyist-and-pay-us-or-else/
http://www.againstcronycapitalism.org/wp-content/uploads/Bitcoinage-cc-565x317.jpg
A similar article (http://www.againstcronycapitalism.org/2012/05/despicable-dc-washington-establishment-threatens-apple-in-politico-hire-more-lobbyists-or-youll-have-problems/) to the below featured article appeared in Politico last year. It warned that Apple (newly the largest company in the world, with lots of cash) had better get a lobbying presence in Washington DC. If it didn’t Politico warned, there was just no telling what regulation might come down the line.
K Street wanted its piece of the Apple pie.
Now DC is coming after Bitcoin because it is growing exponentially and so the Washington establishment figures that there has got to be a way to extract some tribute from the operation. Also, Bitcoin is a direct challenge to the current banking system because it is completely separate from the Fed system. (And no one and nothing should be beyond the Fed.) Add that Bitcoin is also anonymous and you have an irked Washington. Somehow anonymity has become something frowned on these days in this, “the land of the free.”
But all (most) will be forgiven if Washington gets its palms greased.


(From Politico)
Privacy rights are another key issue. Bitcoin is a pseudo-anonymous currency, in that while transactions are documented, they are not tethered to a person’s identity. When money is digitized, the government knows about every purchase. Hoskinson says there is talk among lawmakers of requiring identities to be attached to the transactions, and while neither the Bitcoin Foundation nor DATA has taken a stance on anonymity, Hoskinson says no one in the Bitcoin community wants people to be forced to tether their identity to their Bitcoin transactions.
So the Bitcoin community may be on its own when it comes to privacy.
“[Google and cellphone companies] would probably be big proponents of allowing the technology to exist but not necessarily the biggest proponents in the world about the privacy rights,” Hoskinson said.
Click here for the article. (http://www.politico.com/story/2013/08/bitcoins-washington-problem-95803_Page2.html)

[mick silver]

Biggest Bitcoin Account Frozen By The United States GovernmentBy Rachel Burger (http://thoughtsonliberty.com/author/rachel) on May 17, 2013 in Domestic Policy (http://thoughtsonliberty.com/category/the-state/domestic-policy)
7 (http://thoughtsonliberty.com/biggest-bitcoin-account-frozen-by-the-united-states-government#comments)http://thoughtsonliberty.com/files/2013/05/25_bitcoin_1-600x350.jpg
Want more government in your pocket? Wednesday, the US federal government froze the largest Bitcoin exchange.
The Department of Homeland Security seized an intermediary account which tied Dwolla to Mt. Gox, which hosts 80% (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323582904578485391717441224.html) of all Bitcoin trades. The problem? Mt. Gox was an “unlicensed money service.” The exchange was based in Japan.
Why did this happen? According to Gawker (http://gawker.com/feds-seize-assets-of-worlds-largest-bitcoin-exchange-506790294), Mt. Gox’s chief executive, Mark Karpeles, “failed to declare he was operating a money transmitting business when he opened an account with WellsFargo in May 2011, according to a warrant made public on Wednesday.” The US Treasury Department ruled in March that any entity exchanging online currency, such as Bitcoin (which is not backed by a centralized bank), would be suspect for money-laundering. This lead to the Treasury requiring reports of any transaction worth more than 10,000 US Dollars. According to the Wall Street Journal (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323582904578485391717441224.html), “The Commodity Futures Trading Commission also is considering whether to regulate so-called virtual currencies.”
Because of this, the US authorities charged Mt. Gox with failing to register their business with the Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network. This entirely undoes why people love Bitcoin; the Internet-based currency has no central governmental planner. The government argues that registration aids in combating terrorism and helps the War on Drugs.
A Bitcoin exchange could likely never reach the requirements needed to be a “legitimate” currency exchange. Most notably, licensed Internet exchanges require their users to be able to identify all parties involved in the transaction. Bitcoin, however, is specifically designed to be anonymous. The transaction may never be able to be traced. Thus, “it’s not all that easy to see how a Bitcoin exchange can ever become so licensed (http://www.forbes.com/sites/timworstall/2013/05/16/it-could-be-the-bureaucrats-that-kill-bitcoin/).” In other words, the current system would not allow Bitcoin to operate successfully unless it radically changed its design.
Seems to me like the US government is having a power trip on this one; after all, Bitcoin is a great way to illegally evade taxes (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/16/bitcoin-taxes_n_3093182.html) and deal drugs (http://www.forbes.com/sites/andygreenberg/2013/04/16/founder-of-drug-site-silk-road-says-bitcoin-booms-and-busts-wont-kill-his-black-market/). Jerry Brito from the Mercatus Center notes why the government thankfully won’t win this one. He says (http://rt.com/usa/bitcoin-exchange-seized-crackdown-begins-334/),

“Bitcoin has the potential to be a boon to the economy and a boon to merchants… You can’t put the genie back into the bottle… I hate to say it, but the Bitcoin community needs to start lobbying. It needs to start educating policymakers, lobbyists and influencers about the pros of Bitcoin and the impossibility or the difficulty in getting rid of all the bad uses.”
Looks like the Bitcoin war has finally begun. Let the Internet militias assemble.

[EE_]

Biggest Bitcoin Account Frozen By The United States GovernmentBy Rachel Burger (http://thoughtsonliberty.com/author/rachel) on May 17, 2013 in Domestic Policy (http://thoughtsonliberty.com/category/the-state/domestic-policy)
7 (http://thoughtsonliberty.com/biggest-bitcoin-account-frozen-by-the-united-states-government#comments)http://thoughtsonliberty.com/files/2013/05/25_bitcoin_1-600x350.jpg
Want more government in your pocket? Wednesday, the US federal government froze the largest Bitcoin exchange.
The Department of Homeland Security seized an intermediary account which tied Dwolla to Mt. Gox, which hosts 80% (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323582904578485391717441224.html) of all Bitcoin trades. The problem? Mt. Gox was an “unlicensed money service.” The exchange was based in Japan.
Why did this happen? According to Gawker (http://gawker.com/feds-seize-assets-of-worlds-largest-bitcoin-exchange-506790294), Mt. Gox’s chief executive, Mark Karpeles, “failed to declare he was operating a money transmitting business when he opened an account with WellsFargo in May 2011, according to a warrant made public on Wednesday.” The US Treasury Department ruled in March that any entity exchanging online currency, such as Bitcoin (which is not backed by a centralized bank), would be suspect for money-laundering. This lead to the Treasury requiring reports of any transaction worth more than 10,000 US Dollars. According to the Wall Street Journal (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323582904578485391717441224.html), “The Commodity Futures Trading Commission also is considering whether to regulate so-called virtual currencies.”
Because of this, the US authorities charged Mt. Gox with failing to register their business with the Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network. This entirely undoes why people love Bitcoin; the Internet-based currency has no central governmental planner. The government argues that registration aids in combating terrorism and helps the War on Drugs.
A Bitcoin exchange could likely never reach the requirements needed to be a “legitimate” currency exchange. Most notably, licensed Internet exchanges require their users to be able to identify all parties involved in the transaction. Bitcoin, however, is specifically designed to be anonymous. The transaction may never be able to be traced. Thus, “it’s not all that easy to see how a Bitcoin exchange can ever become so licensed (http://www.forbes.com/sites/timworstall/2013/05/16/it-could-be-the-bureaucrats-that-kill-bitcoin/).” In other words, the current system would not allow Bitcoin to operate successfully unless it radically changed its design.
Seems to me like the US government is having a power trip on this one; after all, Bitcoin is a great way to illegally evade taxes (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/16/bitcoin-taxes_n_3093182.html) and deal drugs (http://www.forbes.com/sites/andygreenberg/2013/04/16/founder-of-drug-site-silk-road-says-bitcoin-booms-and-busts-wont-kill-his-black-market/). Jerry Brito from the Mercatus Center notes why the government thankfully won’t win this one. He says (http://rt.com/usa/bitcoin-exchange-seized-crackdown-begins-334/),[/COLOR
Bitcoin has the potential to be a boon to the economy and a boon to merchants… [I]You can’t put the genie back into the bottle. I hate to say it, but the Bitcoin community needs to start lobbying. It needs to start educating policymakers, lobbyists and influencers about the pros of Bitcoin and the impossibility or the difficulty in getting rid of all the bad uses

Looks like the Bitcoin war has finally begun. Let the Internet militias assemble.

Shit, besides being difficult for most people to use bitcoin, make exchanges and the risk involved...now you have to start lobbying and educating policymakers about the pros of Bitcoin, just to keep it? The genie is out of the bottle all right, for the bankers!
Sounds like Freedom!


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lLCEUpIg8rE

[General of Darkness]

The jews do hate competition and love stealing ideas if it puts Shekels in their pockets.

[madfranks]

Question: Under current US law, are you allowed to take a open source software, copy it, call it something else and patent it? Does that then render the original open source software a copyright infringement?

[Ares]

Question: Under current US law, are you allowed to take a open source software, copy it, call it something else and patent it? Does that then render the original open source software a copyright infringement?

I think Satoshi would have to come forward and claim that his IP was infringed upon.

Honestly though, I don't think he or the BTC community as a whole ever thought JPM would straight out copy it and call it something else, centralize it, and HOPE that people use it.

My guess is they'll start lobbying congress to make only their "coin" usable in the public domain.

[Dogman]

Think history has shown that something good can be hijacked for evil.

If this takes, it can be considered as a step towards a total "electronic currency" economy. No need to strike coins nor print "flat" currency and the related costs of production of the same.

Think "tea" party and you will see another form of hijacking and the list of such events is huge.

[Hatha Sunahara]

Their goal is to lure usall into a cashless society, where the only money you can use is in the banking system and stays in the banking system, and there is no independent medium of exchange. That will be the 'mark of the beast'. I'm not too optimistic that people are smart enough to see this, and they will fall for this JP Morgan scam--and regret it when it is too late. I'm getting tired of paying for the errors of my less intelligent bretheren.

And BTW, Ares--there is no real person named Satoshi associated with Bitcoins--it's likely a Username of the CIA.


Hatha

[Ares]

Their goal is to lure usall into a cashless society, where the only money you can use is in the banking system and stays in the banking system, and there is no independent medium of exchange. That will be the 'mark of the beast'. I'm not too optimistic that people are smart enough to see this, and they will fall for this JP Morgan scam--and regret it when it is too late. I'm getting tired of paying for the errors of my less intelligent bretheren.

And BTW, Ares--there is no real person named Satoshi associated with Bitcoins--it's likely a Username of the CIA.


Hatha

Satoshi was most likely a group of individuals working together to form that protocol. Even in the white paper Satoshi referred to himself as "we".

I'm still not buying into the idea that an alphabet agency of the fraud.gov had anything to do with its development. Nothing the government releases is open source. They are a top down, do this or be taxed, imprisoned, or fined type mentality. No where near the feel free to use it or don't free market type mentality.

[Horn]

I think Satoshi would have to come forward and claim that his IP was infringed upon.

Satoshi Yakamoto, correct?

Sounds like a made up name to begin with, I don't think the lobbying would go very well under those circumstances.

[EE_]

Satoshi was most likely a group of individuals working together to form that protocol. Even in the white paper Satoshi referred to himself as "we".
http://thewhitenetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/TIJ_jewish-bankers.jpg
I'm still not buying into the idea that an alphabet agency of the fraud.gov had anything to do with its development. Nothing the government releases is open source. They are a top down, do this or be taxed, imprisoned, or fined type mentality. No where near the feel free to use it or don't free market type mentality.
...........