The intellectual property focused media outlet has prepared the list based on consolidated data from China, America, Japan, the EU and South Korea.
The firm also referred to the International Patent System data base of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).
While China’s Alibaba took the first place by filing 90 blockchain-related patents, IBM was just a whisker away with 89 patents. MasterCard took the third place with 80 filings.
With 53 blockchain related patents to its credit, the Bank of America was placed fourth in the list. China’s central bank, People’s Bank of China (PBoC) share the fifth place with 44 patent filings, mostly related to central bank digital currency.
Overall, China leads the world with more than 225 blockchain related patent filings in 2017, compared with 91 by the US and 13 by Australia. Despite filing so many blockchain related patents, China continues to implement a blanket ban on investing or trading in cryptocurrencies.
Even firms like Alibaba are in support of the government’s implementation of ban related to cryptocurrency trading.
Notably, IBM signed a five-year, $740 million contract with the Australian government to utilize blockchain and other new age technologies to enhance data security and automation across government departments, including home affairs and defense.