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Ant Group, financial technology subsidiary of the e-commerce giant Alibaba Holding Group Limited (NYSE: BABA) retained its place as the largest blockchain patent holder in 2020, according to a report by International Asset Management that cited data from the Derwent World Patents Index from Clarivate or DWPI.
What happened: Research published by IAM showed that Ant Group retained its top spot in the index, which groups patents filed for both quantity and quality, CoinDesk first reported. The ranking is dominated by Chinese companies, which are leading the way in terms of blockchain patent filing volume.
Ant Group filed 586 patents in 2020, which is a decrease of 33% from the 880 patents filed the previous year. The company has 2,298 blockchain patents.
Conglomerate based in Shenzen Ping An Insurance (group) China Company Ltd. (OTC: PNGAY) filed 1,215 patents in 2020 to snatch second place from Tencent Holdings Limited (OTC: TCEHY).
International Business Machines Corporation (NYSE: IBM) was the only non-Chinese company in the top ten, taking fourth place in blockchain patent counts last year with 647 filings. Nonetheless, DWPI score metrics pushed IBM to second place behind Ant Group.
Why is this important: Chinese companies continue to expand their research into blockchain technology, which is used in financial technology, supply chain management, and the Internet of Things or IoT, among other applications.
Chinese President Xi Jinping called for more research and innovation in blockchain technology in 2019. Some of China’s biggest tech companies, including Ant Group, Tencent and Baidu Inc. (NASDAQ: BIDU) are represented on the country’s national blockchain committee.
See also: Jack Ma’s ant commits to become carbon neutral by 2030
Since 2015, Ant Group has invested significantly in the research and development of blockchain technologies. In July of last year, Ant Group unveiled AntChain, a new technology brand for enterprise blockchain-based solutions.
Price action: Alibaba Group shares on Monday closed nearly 0.7% lower at $ 230.28 and were down another 0.2% in the after-hours session.
Read more: NFT sneakers that don’t exist yet grossed $ 3.1 million in just seven minutes
© 2020 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.
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