Meta (formerly known as Facebook) will be the latest company to join the Crypto Open Patent Alliance (COPA).
Meta — together with Jack Dorsey’s payments company Block at the helm and with over a couple dozens of tech and crypto companies — pledges to not enforce their “core cryptocurrency patents”.
According to COPA general manager Max Sills, he generally defines “core cryptocurrency patents” as technologies that “enables the creation, mining, storage, transmission, settlement, integrity, or security of cryptocurrencies.”
COPA’s main objective is to reduce the possibility of patent litigation in order to encourage more blockchain-related innovation. Dorsey stated that the group also aims to “help the crypto community defend against patent aggressors and trolls.”
In 2021, COPA has sued the self-proclaimed Bitcoin inventor Craig Wright for his attempts to copyright the white paper for Bitcoin — which is an issue that the crypto community has been facing for years.
Sills remarked that Meta is the largest patent holder in COPA thus far. He said that “it signifies that crypto is becoming a core technology to businesses across industries.”
Facebook-backed digital currency project Diem was recently sold to bank holding company Silvergate Capital. Head of Meta’s crypto wallet Novi Stephane Kasriel wrote that the Diem Association was the one making the decision, not Meta.
