In September 2020, mobile payment services company Square announced the Cryptocurrency Open Patent Alliance (COPA) to encourage companies to share their innovation in an open-source library and pledge not to offensively assert patent rights against others in the alliance. So far, about 20 companies have joined, one of the latest being Coinbase in December of 2020. The virtual currency exchange is by far the largest patent holder in the alliance thus far, with over 30 patents and published applications covering payment systems, cryptography, blockchain, and more. In our previous insight covering COPA, we highlighted Coinbase as a potential company that would be an asset in the alliance, especially if industry giants like IBM and Bank of America don’t want to get involved.

All of the other companies in COPA have fewer than 10 published patents and applications, which suggests they have more to gain than to lose. These companies may benefit greatly from being able to merge their technologies with Coinbase’s payment systems platforms. One important question is whether participants in COPA will continue to patent the technology they develop as a result of the shared knowledge. It would be a smart move in a practical sense but may go against the ethos of the alliance. 

You can view the patent portfolios of the other companies in COPA and better understand the growing alliance by subscribing to our Cryptocurrency Patent Forecast®.