Global shipping giant UPS recently submitted a patent to accept bitcoin as payment for an item exchange locker service.According to an application released by the US Patent and Trademark Office, UPS is constructing a “secure, computerized locker bank that is adapted to facilitate the payment for, and physical exchange of an item between entities who have brokered the sale of the item via a marketplace, such as an online marketplace [..] or a traditional marketplace.”The purpose of the new locker system was to ensure safer in-person transactions. Private sales often carried high risks of theft and fraud because they could not guarantee safety and security. With the locker system, the party trading or selling the item can place it in the locker for a buyer to pick up at their convenience. While the filing listed different methods to pay, it also included Bitcoin as a type of electronic payment.The UPS patent is one of the most recent examples of a filing that lists bitcoin as payment. Although Bitcoin has not been internationally recognized as a legal tender, bitcoin’s inclusion in the patent signifies a growing acceptance of the digital currency as a medium of exchange. This sits in contrast to the recent news that many credit card issuers banned purchasing digital currency on credit, which indicates they see it more as an asset class than a currency.
The UPS filed patent stated that, “an in-person exchange between private individuals, or other entities, of items sold via a classified ad (such as a traditional or online classified ad), online auction, or online retail sale, can be undesirable due to the inherent danger of exchanging valuable items or cash with strangers.” Therefore, “there is a need for improved systems and processes for facilitating such exchanges in a safe and convenient manner.”UPS’s decentralized locker service system allows customers access to lockers which are sealed and secured by computerized systems. Any access to the lockers will require passwords. The lockers also have internal cameras that display the content inside with external screens which facilitates and accepts payments.
In section 45, the patent listed bitcoin as a viable method of payment. The application stated that they accept “payment from users in the form of: (1) a cash transaction; (2) a credit or debit card transaction; (3) a gift certificate; (4) an electronic payment, such as payment by Google Pay, Apple Pay, PayPal, Bitcoin; and/or (5) any other suitable type of payment.”The patent application mentions bitcoin again in section 134. It states that “in particular embodiments, the locker exchange server 200 may refund the payment in any suitable form (e.g., credit, cash, bitcoin, etc.)”While not every company follows through on their patent applications, if UPS implements their new locker system, it’s possible that other companies may follow a similar path. Amazon has already implemented a similar locker service, for instance. However, Amazon has not yet accepted digital currency payments.The filing is also the latest example of a patent application that lists bitcoin as a possible payment method. In the last two years, there were over 50 patent filings that mentioned bitcoin as a payment method. The growing inclusion of bitcoin as a medium of exchange signals an increasing positive acceptance of the digital currency.Image credit: pxhere.com
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