Bank of America Files Patent for Settlement System Citing ‘Ripple’

Bank of America has filed for a patent for a settlement system citing a ‘ripple’ distributed ledger, according to a filing on Google Patents.

The patent in question — the application of which was published on June 6 — describes a system using distributed ledger technology (DLT) as an interbank communication tool. The proposed system would enable real-time settlement with transactions being communicated through a shared, decentralized ledger to which both the banks would have access.

The decentralized network would both verify the identity of the payer and the payee and enable communication between the institutions. Notably, multiple illustrations included in the patent explicitly cite a “refunded ripple settlement.” Ripple’s base asset and proposed settlement gateway asset XRP is not mentioned in the patent.

In June, news broke that Siam Commercial Bank, Thailand’s largest commercial bank, denied any plans to start using Ripple’s XRP token, contrary to earlier indications. The denial came after the bank tweeted that an “XRP system will be announced soon” on June 5.

As Cointelegraph reported earlier this month, Ripple incubator and investment arm Xpring has distributed $500 million to over 20 XRP projects — including the blockchain-based gaming platform Forte — since its launch in May 2018. The aim of the incubator is to fund the development of use cases for Ripple’s XRP token.

Disclaimer: It is not yet verified whether “refunded ripple settlement” refers to Ripple specifically or a DLT system with a similar name.