Inflation 

On March 9, 2020, there was about $4 trillion in circulation. As of November 30, 2020, the money supply stood at over $6.5 trillion, largely due to coronavirus related stimulus bills. A December stimulus bill added $900 billion, and Biden says he’ll issue more if the Democrats get control of the Senate. What this means is the money supply has almost doubled in less than a year and more is expected. So this expectation of inflation is fueling the search for stores of value such as cryptocurrencies. 

Pornhub

Next, on December 4, 2020, the New York Times ran a story about Pornhub videos showing children engaged in sex and women being assaulted. In response, Mastercard and Visa cut off Pornhub’s premium content. Pornhub responded by enabling crypto payments. You can see the change in trajectory shortly thereafter. Porn made the Internet. Is it going to make Bitcoin, too?

Banks

On January 4, 2021, the OCC (Office of the Comptroller of the Currency) issued an interpretation that national banks and federal savings associations can use cryptocurrencies and stablecoins to engage in and facilitate payment activities. The OCC has legitimized cryptocurrencies, creating a new market for them. 

Who’s going to win here?  The top five companies with patents and applications in cryptocurrency payment architecture are large companies from different industry sectors. This is going to be a WWE Smackdown between IBM, Alibaba, BOA, Mastercard, and Coinbase, to say the least.  

For more on patenting and marketability in the cryptocurrency sector, subscribe to the Cryptocurrency Patent Forecast®. Start your free trial today!