Blockstream has always been a topic of substantial debate among the Bitcoin community. Some people feel this company is bringing nothing positive to the future of cryptocurrency development. As it turns out, this company has no blockchain patents whatsoever, which is contrary to what their representatives hinted at for quite some time now.
Just a few days ago, Blockstream made a big announcement stating how they made progress on the patent front. The company took some “defensive measures” to safeguard the future development of Bitcoin technology. Permissionless innovation is the bread and butter of Bitcoin as an ecosystem, and it is core to what Blockstream had planned as well.
However, this seems to be in stark contrast with obtaining patents based on this same technology. A patent does not provide fair use by definition, and questions arose as to whether or not Blockstream had any pending patents when this statement was made. Lo and behold, the company has zero patents assigned to the enterprise.
As positive as this may sound to some people, it is not entirely shocking either. Some people assumed Blockstream was getting ready for so-called blockchain patent wars, as they announced their defensive patent pledge. To most people, there is no room for patenting open source technology in the Bitcoin world.
Throughout the years, it has become clear that most companies who own patents only do so to kill off innovation in a specific sector. That is the last thing the Bitcoin world needs right now, as innovation is thriving in the blockchain world. Moreover, the open source nature of this technology has been attracting developers and investors from all over the world.
The positive side in all of this is how Blockstream will not be able to harm the Bitcoin ecosystem without patents. Moreover, the bigger question becomes what this company is spending its time on, if they are not pursuing patents in the blockchain world. In the end, the news they “announced” roughly a week ago was nothing more than a promotion stunt. For now, the company is nothing more than vaporware as far as patents are concerned.
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