The CEO of Coinbase, Brian Armstrong, has recently won a patent from the US Patents and Trademark Office for a unique technology that allows the owner of the patent to send bitcoin to email addresses.
The patent was granted on December 17th, after being filed two four years ago – on March 17th, 2015. What this patent will do for users is allow them to link their wallet addresses with their email addresses, a connection that will essentially be a direct bitcoin payment opportunity.
The transaction between two parties will be done in the following way: The sender will be obliged to send a request to the recipient’s official email address before being able to transfer any bitcoin. As soon as the request is approved, this bitcoin will be directly deposited from the bitcoin wallet of the sender to the recipient’s one (the one linked with the email address).
Right after the recipient approves the payment, the transaction is cleared within 2 days. Any bitcoin that is not used for payments will then be stored in special private vaults that parties will only can access through the email addresses linked to the respective wallets.
In addition, the great thing is that users wishing to transact with bitcoin in this way, will be charged zero fees for doing so. As we know, Coinbase has garnered massive amounts of transaction fees since the exchange’s foundation 7 years ago.
The patent seems to be applicable for bitcoin only, as there is no mention of other digital coins such as XRP or Ethereum. The implementation of the system will thus, be easier. What is even more important is that, according to press, no specific email providers are mentioned, so users will be able to choose their preferred one and go from there.
Moreover, the newest invention will also include a special exchange that allows users to transact with bitcoin using fiat money acquired from a regular bank account that the user has linked. So, overall, the patent and new technology aim to make the buying and selling of cryptocurrencies much easier and seamless – especially for those who are not that advanced in the process.
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