Cryptographic currency for securities settlement

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9704143-B2
Application number	US-201414528289-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 30, 2014
Priority date	May 16, 2014
Publication date	Jul 11, 2017
Grant date	Jul 11, 2017

Abstract

The present disclosure is directed to security settlement in financial markets and cryptographic currencies. Particular portions of the present disclosure are directed to a cryptographic currency protocol and to a cryptographic currency that includes a positional item. The cryptographic currency protocol supports a virtual wallet that, in various embodiments, is a security and cash account for storing and managing the cryptographic currency. Opening a transaction via the virtual wallet to transfer the cryptographic currency is a strong guarantee of the availability of funds in the virtual wallet because, e.g., funds are not transacted unless the commit phase is successful.

First claim

We claim:

1. A non-transitory computer-readable storage device having contents adapted to cause a programmed computer system to perform operations comprising:
receiving, from a source computing node in a network, one or more electronic transaction messages, wherein the one or more electronic transaction messages include at least transaction information and a digital signature of the source computing node, wherein the transaction information includes at least:
a recipient electronic address of a recipient computing node;
a cryptographic currency representing a security and a first position, the first position representative of a first quantity of the security; and
an ownership history of the cryptographic currency;

internally verifying an authenticity of the one or more electronic transaction messages based on the digital signature;
internally verifying the source computing node as owner of the cryptographic currency based on the ownership history using a ledger;
receiving electronic verification messages from a plurality of other computing nodes in the network, the electronic verification messages including information providing external verification of the source computing node as the owner of the cryptographic currency;
recording, in the ledger, a change in the ownership history from the source computing node to the recipient computing node in response to the ownership history being verified internally and by the other computing nodes;
transmitting electronic change messages updating the change in ownership history to the source computing node and the other computing nodes;
aggregating the cryptographic currency with another cryptographic currency representing the same security into an aggregated cryptographic currency, the aggregated cryptographic currency representing the same security and a second position, the second position representative of a second quantity of the security, the second quantity of the security larger than the first quantity of the security; and
updating the ledger to perfect ownership rights in the aggregated cryptographic currency.

2. The computer-readable storage device of claim 1 , wherein the operations further comprise:
providing a financial security in exchange for the cryptographic currency.

3. The computer-readable storage device of claim 1 , wherein the operations further comprise:
providing a non-cryptographic currency in exchange for the cryptographic currency.

4. The computer-readable storage device of claim 1 , wherein the cryptographic currency is for trading financial securities.

5. The computer-readable storage device of claim 1 , wherein the cryptographic currency is stored in a virtual wallet in a database.

6. The computer-readable storage device of claim 1 , wherein the cryptographic currency is exchanged based on a commitment protocol.

7. The computer-readable storage device of claim 6 , wherein the commitment protocol is a two-phase commitment protocol.

8. The computer-readable storage device of claim 1 , wherein the operations further comprise:
prior to an initial transfer of ownership of the cryptographic currency, validating the cryptographic currency by verifying that the cryptographic currency is signed using a private key of an issuer of the security when no transaction history for the cryptographic currency is available.

9. The computer-readable storage device of claim 1 , wherein at least one of the internal verification and the external verification is a verification of proper chain-of-title of the cryptographic currency.

10. The computer-readable storage device of claim 1 , wherein the one or more electronic transaction messages are based on public key cryptography.

11. An apparatus comprising:
at least one interface configured to receive, from a source computing node in a network, one or more electronic transaction messages, wherein the one or more electronic transaction messages include at least transaction information and a digital signature of the source computing node, wherein the transaction information includes at least:
a recipient electronic address of a recipient computing node;
a cryptographic currency representing a security and a first position, the first position representative of a first quantity of the security; and
an ownership history of the cryptographic currency;

at least one memory; and
at least one processor configured to execute instructions stored in the at least one memory in order to:
internally verify an authenticity of the one or more electronic transaction messages based on the digital signature;
internally verify the source computing node as owner of the cryptographic currency based on the ownership history using a ledger;
receive electronic verification messages from a plurality of other computing nodes in the network, the electronic verification messages including information providing external verification of the source computing node as the owner of the cryptographic currency;
record, in the ledger, a change in the ownership history from the source computing node to the recipient computing node in response to the ownership history being verified internally and by the other computing nodes;
transmit electronic change messages updating the change in ownership history to the source computing node and the other computing nodes;
aggregate the cryptographic currency with another cryptographic currency representing the same security into an aggregated cryptographic currency, the aggregated cryptographic currency representing the same security and a second position, the second position representative of a second quantity of the security, the second quantity of the security larger than the first quantity of the security; and
update the ledger to perfect ownership rights in the aggregated cryptographic currency.

12. The apparatus of claim 11 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to execute the instructions in order to provide a financial security in exchange for the cryptographic currency.

13. The apparatus of claim 11 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to execute the instructions in order to provide a non-cryptographic currency in exchange for the cryptographic currency.

14. The apparatus of claim 11 , wherein the at least one processor is configured to store the cryptographic currency in a virtual wallet in a database.

15. The apparatus of claim 11 , wherein the at least one processor is configured to exchange the cryptographic currency based on a commitment protocol.

16. The apparatus of claim 15 , wherein the commitment protocol is a two-phase commitment protocol.

17. The apparatus of claim 11 , wherein:
the at least one processor is further configured to execute the instructions in order to update the ledger to reflect that a second ownership history of a second cryptographic currency includes a transfer of the second cryptographic currency from the recipient computing node to the source computing node; and
the second cryptographic currency represents a different security and a position representative of a quantity of the different security and is transferred in exchange for the cryptographic currency.

18. A method comprising:
receiving, from a source computing node in a network, one or more electronic transaction messages, wherein the one or more electronic transaction messages include at least transaction information and a digital signature of the source computing node, wherein the transaction information includes at least:
a recipient electronic address of a recipient computing node;
a

Assignees

• Goldman Sachs & Co
• Goldman Sachs & Co Llc

Inventors

• Walker Paul
• Venables Phil J

Classifications

• G06Q20/3674

  involving authentication · CPC title

• G06Q20/065

  using e-cash · CPC title

• G06Q20/36

  using electronic wallets or electronic money safes · CPC title

• G06Q40/04

  Trading; Exchange, e.g. stocks, commodities, derivatives or currency exchange · CPC title

• G06Q20/382

  insuring higher security of transaction · CPC title