Korea's Largest Credit Card Company Gets Patent for its Blockchain Credit System

Shinhan Card, the largest credit card company in South Korea, has been granted a patent for a blockchain payment system.

As the Korea Times reported on Monday, the affiliate of the Shinhan Financial Group said it has developed an "innovative" blockchain technology-based service offering credit card features, including spending limits, monthly payments and merchant payments.

The Times quotes a "manager" of the company:

"Services using these key credit card features will be extended to the blockchain-based system, a significant improvement over the status quo in which most of the blockchain-based services available are limited to funds transfer or credit transfer. user identification for online transactions.

According to the report, the patent could pave the way for cardless credit transactions allowing system users to make payments using apps on mobile devices. In such a development, the invention would disrupt the traditional card system based on three intermediaries: the credit card company, a value-added network service provider (VAN) and a payment gateway.

"We obtained the patent about a year and a half after launching a feasibility study, including reviews of the technology," said the manager.

Filing a patent on the website of the Korean Intellectual Property Rights Information Service (Kipris) provides an overview of the invention as follows (via an informal translation):

A blockchain generating unit for generating a blockchain comprising a virtual currency generated according to a credit limit of a consumer and updating the blockchain according to payment details, and a transaction generating unit to store transaction conditions corresponding to each of the plurality of accounts and to settle using the blockchain according to the conditions of the transaction. "

Shinhan Card is now looking to extend its credit card to Europe, the United States, Japan, China, Vietnam and Indonesia, they added.

Earlier this year, sister company Shinhan Bank said that it was using blockchain technology to speed up the process of approving loan products. Specifically, the bank would use a blockchain platform to verify the evidence required for a loan, such as qualification or certification documents.

edit (10:35 UTC, July 15): Update with link and details of Kipris.

Credit card image via Shutterstock