Interest in blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies has increased exponentially over the last year, as illustrated by a range of patent applications filed in 2017. Large-scale financial operations have been amongst those keen to develop applications based on the new tech.

The biggest news was the launch by CME Group of Bitcoin futures contracts, patented in April, allowing cryptocurrency miners to hedge the risk of blockchain transactions. A payout is guaranteed if the hash rate on a network grows faster than expected, thereby making it more difficult to find new blocks to mine. If the opposite is true, or miners meet their expectations, the futures contract expires. Though they will not then get a payout, miners would have made more mining profits instead.

The FICO patent proposed a means of detecting illegal digital currency transactions, claiming a method by which to detect any fraud or money laundering activities. The financial watchdog intends to develop a \'threat score\' system based on Bitcoin exchange data, flagging higher scores for review before tracking suspect transactions to their ultimate destination.

A more unexpected patent was awarded to Bank of America, which would allow account holders to exchange a fiat currency into cryptocurrency and thence conduct transactions with a third digital currency. While this is not like to happen in the immediate future, it does offer proof that mainstream financial institutions have crypto on their minds.