Cryptocurrencies
PayPal Patent Seeks to Speed Up Crypto Payments
Lately it semes most of the focus around cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, Ethereum, and others has centered on the investment opportunities these coins present. However there are still those who believe in using crypto for various payments between merchants and customers. Now a new patent reveals that PayPal is not only looking toward cryptocurrency payments but is also looking to speed up these transactions.
As Coindesk reports, PayPal recently applied for a patent for what they call “Expedited Virtual Currency Transaction System.” The goal behind this system would be to limit the amount of time it takes for a transaction between sellers and buyers. Currently these transactions can be delayed as they’ll need to wait to join the next available block in the chain, which could take upwards of 10 minutes. PayPal outlined the need for their innovation, stating “In many transaction situations, a 10 minute wait time will be too long for payers and/or payees, and those payers and/or payees will instead choose to perform the transaction using traditional payment methods rather than virtual currency. Issues like this have slowed the adoption of virtual currencies despite their advantages.”
To achieve speedier transactions, PayPal plans to use private keys as part of a secondary wallet that can then be swapped between parties. The patent filing goes into detail about their idea, saying, “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 by transferring to the payee private keys that are included in virtual currency wallets that are associated with predefined amounts of virtual currency that equal a payment amount identified in the virtual currency transaction.” Additionally the filing includes various illustrations of how the PayPal’s Expedited Virtual Currency Transaction System would work:
It’s no surprise that PayPal is trying to push cryptocurrencies forward — especially in terms of accepting them as payments. First the company started partnering with Bitcoin payment processors as far back as 2014. Moreover PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel’s venture capital firm Founders Fund is reportedly heavily invested in the cryptocurrency space. In any case, it will be interesting to see if PayPal’s plan for zippier crypto transactions will catch on and pay off.
