Chapter 9 - Patents & their association to Cryptocurrencies

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Chapter 9

Patents and their association to Cryptocurrencies

It is well known that the specific bitcoin protocols are free of patents and people around the globe routinely utilize the network and its blockchain in transactions freely without restriction.  It was always intended for this to be the case with bitcoin, with the exception that at some point it might have nominal transactional fees.  That at least was the initial thought, and in the years that followed transaction fees have actually come to be very steep at times.  

The author does not know the full extent of any related patents that might be associated with variations of either alternative coins, or aspects that exchanges have created to manage bitcoin.  Likely there are relatable patents, especially as much of this topic area has evolved into other digital forms such as NFTs , phone aps, or alternative variations of cryptocurrencies, referred to as altcoins. This is an area the author does not assert to be knowledgeable in the least. Again, this book is not about the protocols or structure of current digital currencies.  

However, the curiosity of patents as it pertains to blockchain technology was of interest to the author as it potentially would shed light into the character of Satoshi Nakamoto and is a curiosity with my own background as an engineer.  With a thought experiment it led to a path down a very deep rabbit hole of research.  The author did find patent ownerships that related, not specifically to bitcoin, but rather to the fundamentals of proof-of-work and relatable protocols. And this is an area, I really cannot discuss in too much detail as it would potentially disclose too much information around bitcoin and contributors.  Suffice it to say, my deep dive into the rabbit hole provided further confirmation that the person I believed to be Satoshi Nakamoto was in fact the person I had thought.  As the pieces began to fall in place, the patent awards were sufficiently relatable and gave me pause to say, yes, this is entirely consistent with the person I believe to be Satoshi Nakamoto.  It is interesting what one can discover in the wee hours of the early morning.  

There is more to this account I wish I could tell.  But any more said, would be potentially too revealing and I may have already provided too much by mere reference.  I tried my best to let go of this in as minimalist way as possible while still maintaining the anonymity of both he and I.

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This concludes Part 1 of introducing the person, this author believes to be Satoshi Nakamoto.  Hopefully, a balance has been struck with shedding some light on the person behind bitcoin while not revealing too much to unravel his identity.  Part 2 follows and will continue to dive deeper into the person that is Satoshi Nakamoto.