I wonder how many times this news can be recycled and rehashed before people realize that it isn't new.
Sorry. It was 4 days ago and I missed it. Thought people might be interested.
Technically the patents were filed long ago. It's just that the CEO of eBay made his statement recently. Some have been speculating this for a long time due to the patent filing.
I think J.P. Morgan also has filed a few patents for virtual currency. I am not sure if they got it. One place tells me they did. When I google it now, it says they didn't. So I am not sure if ebay will get it or not (and what it all means).
I didn't hear about JP Morgan. eBay's specificially states Bitcoin though in theirs. And if they get it, they are asking for the patent on the means for utilizing Bitcoin for auctions.
If I remember correctly, the JPMorgan patents were for something very, very different than bitcoin or cryptocurrency protocol generally. I don't remember the details, though.
It seems that j.p. morgan is just trying to file a bitcoin like coin. Not sure if it will go anywhere. I vaguely remembered them being mentioned in ethereum (if it ever comes out)
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-12-10/chasing-bitcoin-jpm-preparing-unveil-its-own-electronic-currency
http://business.time.com/2013/12/10/jpmorgan-may-create-a-virtual-currency-that-rivals-bitcoin/
So really they're just trying to do like Apple and create their own competitive coin. At least eBay and PayPal are trying to embrace what's going on and work with it instead of against it.
