Polymath Seeks to Solve Double Spend – A First Step to a Larger Portfolio?

Right now, the market of blockchain solutions for buying and selling securities is small, but there are signs of growth. Companies such as Equity Shift and CartaX have been early leaders into this space, but challengers are approaching. In November 2021, an application was published for a system for performing atomic settlement on a blockchain platform by Polymath Inc. Polymath hasn’t appeared on the Securities Tokenization Patent Forecast® before, but its website states that it provides technology to create, issue, and manage digital securities. While Polymath’s website touts many different features, the recent publication specifically addresses the issue of double spending.

Double spending is an issue with blockchain-based currencies where the same asset can be promised to two different parties in two different transactions. Many blockchain-based systems solve this problem having the tokens and payment for the tokens be sent to an intermediary, who clears the transaction. However, this slows down the trading process, which takes away a major benefit of blockchain-based systems in the first place. Polymath is attempting to solve this issue by locking assets from a party authorizing a transaction before a counterparty has authorized the transaction, thereby obviating the need for an intermediary.

Time will tell whether Polymath’s solution will be efficient and useful in the marketplace, but its choice to solve this issue may attract other competitors with existing IP in the space to file for their own solutions to the same problem. And keep your eye out on Polymath. Something tells us they aren’t done patenting yet. To keep up with Polymath and other companies in the Securities Tokenization space, follow the Securities Tokenization Patent Forecast®!