Microsoft receives patent for ledger-independent token service

U.S. tech giant Microsoft has secured a patent for a ledger-independent token service at a time when global behemoths are increasingly filing blockchain patents. The patent lays out a system for managing all kinds of tokens, regardless of the blockchain network in which they are deployed.

The computer software and consumer electronics giant, which is the world’s second-largest company filed the patent with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) on February 25, 2019. The office awarded the patent to Microsoft Technology Licensing, a Microsoft subsidiary, on August 24.

The ‘ledger-independent token service’ will provide users with “one or more token templates […] where each token template corresponds to a type of physical or digital asset.” It will be a unified interface on which users can manage their tokens throughout their lifecycle. Developers can “write code for transacting with and managing tokens in a manner that is agnostic of the underlying distributed ledger networks/platforms on which the tokens are deployed.”

Microsoft is seeking to allow developers to build applications involving tokens more easily and efficiently than ever before, it claims. Developers will no longer have to dwell on “token-specific code in order to interact with such tokens via their applications; instead, the developers can rely on the template-derived attributes/functions of the tokens to interact with them in a generic and portable fashion.”

In addition, developers can now write code for managing tokens that’s agnostic of the underlying ledger network on which the tokens were originally deployed. This will, according to Microsoft, make development more efficient for emerging business use cases that involve crossing ledger boundaries.

The Redmond, Washington-based tech giant has shown an interest in blockchain technology for some time. Earlier this year, it partnered with Indian cloud communication firm Tanla to launch a blockchain-based messaging service. Known as Wisely, it was touted to be a communication platform-as-a-service that offers secure and trusted communication experiences.

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